The Curse of the Were-Disgust
by Svinorita
Summary: (A Halloween Special!) Beware of the dark, evil beast lurking in the woods...After the Andersen family decide to take a day trip to Muir Woods, Riley unwittingly makes a terrifying discovery while Disgust was at the console. Now both she and Disgust find themselves in grips of an ancient curse...HALLOWEEN REQUEST BY ORANGEBIRD124.
1. The Beast Of Muir Woods

**Hello again everybody! Svinorita here with another Inside Out story and this time I thought I'd try something a little different…**

 **As you know, Halloween is coming up soon and Orangebird124 brought to my attention that there aren't that many Halloween stories for Inside Out on the fandom. So I decided to try and put something together before Halloween and this is what I've managed to come up with so far :)**

 **I want to give a big thank you to Orangebird124 for sharing this request with me and I hope you all enjoy this first chapter as Disgust falls under the curse of a mysterious evil beast…**

* * *

Chapter 1 - The Beast Of Muir Woods.

Riley Andersen was staring out the car window at the trees whipping by, bored out her brain. She had intended to spend this Sunday afternoon catching up with her best friend Meg on Skype, maybe watch a scary movie later (since it was the week leading up to Halloween after all!) or listen to some music in her room.

But no! It turns out that her father; Bill had another one of his "bright" ideas about how they should spend the day…

As Riley ate her breakfast quietly in the kitchen this morning, Bill walked in with a huge grin on his face as he greeted his wife and daughter with an over-enthusiastic, "Good morning my lovely ladies! Wait until you hear what I've got planned for us today!"

Riley and her mother; Jill exchanged less than eager looks as Bill pushed the plates and cutlery out of the way, and spread a very large map entitled: _"National Parks and Heritage Sites in and around San Francisco"_ on the kitchen table.

"Oh no Bill! Don't tell me you want to take us camping again!" Jill moaned as her husband pointed to a wooded area to the north of San Francisco with delight.

Riley felt her heart skip a beat at the prospect of spending a boring, gloomy night in the woods somewhere without even the bare essentials such as plumbing or a proper bed to sleep in, much less modern conveniences like her laptop or stereo!

It's not that Riley didn't enjoy spending time in nature. Back when the family was living in Minnesota, they would often go for hikes in the woods on the weekends, or skate on the frozen lake near their house during winter.

But she really disliked the idea of camping…

Spending a night in the woods in the freezing cold or sweltering heat with bugs crawling all over her as she tossed and turned in a tattered old sleeping bag while her father snored like a grizzly bear in the next tent, really wasn't her idea of fun!

Bill waved off his wife's concern nonchalantly and announced cheerfully, "Don't worry honey! I was actually thinking more like a day-trip! You know…we could leave after breakfast, spend a peaceful day in nature, maybe have ourselves a little picnic and be back by nightfall!"

He looked jokingly at his wife and daughter. "Besides, it would do you girls some good to stretch your legs and get some fresh air! You've been cooped up in this house ever since we moved in! Come on! I say let's get out of this city for a while and re-connect with nature like in old time's sake!"

Riley glanced at her mother desperately, her eyes filled with silent pleading as she tried to signal that she would rather spend today doing other things…like re-connecting with the sofa for instance!

 _Anything_ but trudging through the woods on a chilly fall day while her dad pointed out every animal they saw like a David Attenborough wannabe, only to end up scaring all the animals away with his terrible fake-British accent and overpowering aftershave!

But to Riley's dismay, mom appeared to be buying into dad's idea after all, now that her mind was assured that this wasn't a camping trip.

Jill nodded slowly and, looking at her husband imploringly she asked, "Well I suppose you do have a valid point dear. And it would be nice to get out of the house for a couple of hours. But where exactly did you have in mind? San Francisco is not exactly renowned for having many wooded areas nearby…?"

Bill smiled excitedly as he showed them the map and traced a finger from San Francisco to a large green area indicating a forest to the north.

"It turns out I've found the perfect location!" Bill exclaimed as he tapped his finger at that green part of the map proudly.

"There's a place called _Muir Woods National Monument_ and it's only twelve miles north of San Francisco!"

XXX

Fast-forward about two hours from this morning, and Riley currently found herself standing in an impressive clearing in the forest, surrounded by massive redwood trees that looked as if they were hundreds of years old. Moss hung from the branches of the trees in huge green curtains and all around her, Riley could hear the mysterious calls of countless animals as they moved unseen through forest. The whole place looked so ancient and mystical…

Riley turned in a slow circle and tried to take in the full majesty of her surroundings. She had to admit, this place _was_ beautiful and enchanting.

 _And to think that a place like this existed only twelve miles from the city!_

She felt an appreciative smile tug at her lips as she told herself that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that dad decided to drag them out here after all…

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by Bill's excited voice drifting down from the car as he unpacked their picnic supplies. "Let's set up lunch girls! Then we'll go for a relaxing hike after we've eaten…"

" _Oh great idea dad…"_ Riley thought to herself miserably. _"Hiking on a full tummy…"_

Meanwhile up in Riley's Headquarters, Disgust was standing alone at the console, a scowl of distaste presently on her face as she flicked a lever noncommittally.

As soon as the Emotions heard about the Andersen's plans for today, Disgust had volunteered to take sole-command of Riley's actions for the duration of their young host's woodland adventure.

Because as far as Disgust could tell, there was only one outcome from this miserable outing: BOREDOM!

"Are you sure that you want to do this alone?" Joy had asked her green companion with a hesitant edge to her normally cheerful voice.

Disgust had rolled her eyes and huffed, "Oh please! I could practically do this with my eyes closed!"

Then she had looked at the other Emotions matter-of-factly as she proclaimed, "After all, Riley should be feeling only one thing right now, and that's _disgusted!_ I see no reason for her to be happy, sad, scared or angry for that matter…"

The green Emotion glanced thoughtfully at Anger, who was grinding his teeth in irritation at her brash declaration.

"Well maybe she _should_ be feeling a little angry…"

She shook her head stubbornly. "No! It doesn't matter what the rest of you say, I'm doing this on my own!"

Joy did her best to try and persuade her coworker to change her mind…

"Come on Disgust! Riley needs to have all her Emotions looking out for her at all times, regardless of how simple or "boring" the situation she currently finds herself in appears to be…"

But her argument proved to be pointless as Disgust adamantly declined her yellow colleague's offer of assistance at every turn.

"No! I've already made up my mind, and I'm not changing it no matter what you say!" Disgust dismissed with a casual wave of her arm.

"I can take care of Riley on my own! The rest of you can take the day off! Go and relax or whatever…"

And that was the end of the discussion. Seeing no point in pressing the issue further, Anger, Fear and Sadness gave in and shuffled off towards their rooms for some impromptu midday down time.

After hanging back reluctantly for a while, Joy too gave a defeated sigh and decided that Disgust wasn't going to change her mind, no matter how much she argued against the idea. With a final hesitant glance over her shoulder, Joy retreated into her own room, leaving her green coworker alone at the controls.

Disgust watched the monitor with a frown of disapproval on her face as she noticed Riley was staring at her father while he laid out the picnic blanket on the ground and prepared the food.

They had ended up having to lug all their picnic supplies for a few miles on foot as they left the public carpark at the entrance to the national park, and trudged through heavily wooded narrow trails in order to reach this secluded clearing in the middle of nowhere!

"I think it's time Disgust makes her presence felt a little..." The green Emotion told herself as she pushed a lever, making the console glow with green light as Riley registered her input.

"I'm bored!" Riley whined as she watched her father unwrap the sandwiches while mom poured coffee out of a thermos.

Her complaint apparently went unheeded as her parents carried on with their tasks as though she hadn't spoken at all.

Disgust grumbled irritably to herself and pressed a few more buttons out of spite, causing Riley to mumble, "I'd rather watch paint dry or grass grow!"

Some fifteen dreary minutes later, Bill had finally finished setting up the picnic and the Andersen family sat down and ate their food in silence. Despite her protesting earlier, Riley discovered that she was actually pretty hungry, and consequently she wound up polishing off her sandwiches long before her parents had finished theirs.

It was while she was sitting there, waiting impatiently for her mom and dad to finish eating, that Riley decided to go and explore the surrounding area a little and maybe even collect some wild flowers. She remembered seeing some beautiful flowers a short distance away from the clearing they were currently in.

Riley enjoyed collecting flowers and pressing them to make bookmarks, and she thought she saw some very pretty examples as they trekked through the forest from the carpark in order to reach this secluded spot.

Riley glanced at her parents and noticed that they were just getting stuck into their post meal coffee. Suddenly the thought of picking flowers seemed far more appealing than sitting here for another fifteen minutes or so with nothing to do while her parents enjoyed their lukewarm beverages!

"Hey mom, can I go and collect some flowers while you and dad finish off your drinks?" she asked hopefully as Jill gave her daughter a reluctant look.

"Well…okay." Her mother said after a moment's hesitation. "Just don't wander off too far honey! Your dad and I will be up in a few minutes."

XXX

Riley _did_ listen to her mother's warning at first, and she tried not to wander too far from her parent's picnic spot. But as she started looking around for flowers, it soon became apparent that there weren't any to be found nearby and gradually, her search took her further and further from the clearing.

Then she saw some beautiful purple, yellow and white flowers in the distance and smiling happily to herself, Riley began following a small trail, picking flowers as she went. The trees lining either side of this trail were larger and grew more closely together than the ones she had seen up till now, and as Riley gazed up at their towering forms, she noticed that their branches seemed to block out the sky so that only dapples of sunlight filtered down to the forest floor. This seemed to give the forest an unsettling and eerie feel about it, and Riley stopped halfway down the trail, suddenly cautious about venturing further.

She remembered her mother's warning about wandering too far on her own and she was beginning to think that maybe she should turn back. But then a shaft of sunlight broke through the dense canopy of the trees and illuminated some strikingly beautiful red flowers just a few yards further down the trail.

Riley stared in wonder at those breath-taking scarlet petals and marveled at their mysterious allure. These particular flowers didn't look like any she had ever seen before! Their color was so vibrant, as if every shade of red existing in nature was captured in those petals.

As the sunlight touched them, they appeared to sparkle and reflect the light almost as though they were encrusted with miniscule gem fragments.

Riley felt a compelling desire to pick those unusual flowers. Yet at the same time something seemed to be holding her back and she couldn't quite understand what it was.

 _Something's not right…_ Riley thought to herself as she took a hesitant step towards the mysterious flowers.

 _They almost look as though they don't quite belong here…?_

Riley took a deep breath and thought about what she should do. She had already collected plenty of other flowers up to this point and she didn't really want to walk any deeper into the woods on her own. But for some reason, she found herself drawn to those strange red flowers as if in a trance…

Then Riley heard the voices of her mom and dad talking nearby and she felt reassured.

"If I can still hear mom and dad, then I can't be that far away from camp after all." Riley told herself with a shrug. She decided then that she would go a little further down the trail and just pick a few of those red flowers quickly. Then she would return to her parents before they finished packing up the picnic.

With an eager smile on her face, Riley set off down the trail towards the enchanting grove of scarlet flowers, but as she approached she quickly discovered that they appeared far less appealing up close…

For starters, they smelled _really bad_ and Riley halted abruptly a few feet from the red flowers, scrunching up her face in distaste as a stench similar to rancid meat drifted from the petals and hit her nostrils.

Then as she covered her nose with her arm and stared at them closely, she discovered with a gasp of horror the true reason behind their brilliant red hue…

On close inspection she saw that the flowers didn't only appear blood-red, they _were_ in fact dripping with blood!

Riley had no idea where the blood came from, and she had no intention of finding out as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She dropped all the flowers she had collected up to this point and turned to run back to her parents, her heart pounding with fright.

Unfortunately, Riley was soon to discover the nightmarish truth about whose blood was oozing from those malevolent flowers…

She had barely taken two steps when suddenly she heard a low menacing growl coming from behind her. Turning instinctively, Riley came face to face with a terrifying beast straight out of her worst nightmares!

Standing before her, snarling viciously, was a beast that looked like a cross between a large dog and a rabid wolf. It was HUGE! At least twice the size of a regular wolf and it was covered in matted jet black fur which stood up stiffly along its back, making it appear even more massive than it already was. Its long, curved claws looked bigger than a grizzly bears and its black lips were pulled back in a savage snarl, revealing jagged yellow fangs.

Riley almost gagged as the foul smell emanating from the beast reached her nose. It reminded her of something ancient and evil! Even more alarming was the fact that the awful stench was the same as the smell coming from those weird red flowers.

But the worst thing about it was its eyes…

It stared at her with absolute hatred with its glowing yellow eyes, and Riley felt as though it was trying to see straight into her soul!

As Riley stared back at the creature with pure terror, she felt certain without a doubt this wasn't just a freakishly huge black wolf like she had seen on nature programs from TV.

For some reason, she couldn't shake the thought that it was something far _older_ …possibly as old as this forest itself. It almost felt like she was looking at a relic from another time, a beast that did not truly belong in this world…

The beast let out a hideous growl as it started advancing slowly and purposefully towards Riley, drool dripping from its fangs as it gnashed its teeth savagely at her.

Riley screamed in alarm and began backing away, never taking her eyes off the creature as she remembered a golden rule she had read about wolves at the library: _"Whatever you do,_ _ **never**_ _turn your back and run!"_

Suddenly she felt her back knock against something hard and rough, and with a moan of despair Riley reached behind her and surely enough, her hand came into contact with the bark of a tree trunk. She realized with absolute dread that she had backed herself against a tree and now there was nowhere left to go…

Meanwhile up in Headquarters, Disgust was staring at the monitor as if she were paralyzed, her hand frozen on a lever as she locked gazes with the terrifying beast and in that instant, she _knew_ that the creature was staring right through Riley's eyes at _her_ … those evil yellow eyes penetrating straight into her soul!

The green Emotion desperately wanted to call for help. She wanted to move, to do something… _anything!_

But she found herself unable to look away from those piercing yellow eyes…

Disgust realized with a start that she was utterly helpless! It was as if the beast had her under its evil spell and no matter what she did, she was unable to break the hold it had over her!

Finally Riley couldn't ignore the urge to run any longer, and shrieking at the top of her lungs she screamed, "DAD! HELP!"

Then she did the worst possible thing when faced with a predatory animal: she turned and started running.

Immediately, the beast gave chase and Riley could hear its heavy footfalls as it closed the distance between them easily, its steaming foul breath right at her back. Instinctively, she glanced back to see how close it was and as a result she didn't notice the gnarled, protruding tree root in her path…

Before she realized what happened, she tripped over the root and fell flat on her face, bruising her arms and legs badly. Riley scrambled frantically to get up, but she was knocked flat as a heavy weight dropped onto her back and the creature was on top of her!

Riley screamed in pure horror as the beast slashed at her with its savage claws and tried to sink its fangs into her flesh. She fought back desperately, the desire to live stronger than anything she had ever felt before as she managed to roll over somehow and push the black wolf off her back.

The beast snarled viciously as it lunged forward to bite her. Riley regained her wits quickly, adrenaline flowing through her veins as she kicked out with her right leg as hard as she could, her foot striking the wolf in the muzzle just as it was about to sink its fangs into her other leg.

The blow sent the creature reeling as it backed away momentarily, shaking its head as blood poured from its mouth. Apparently, Riley's kick was strong enough to cause some damage, or at least stun the creature long enough to give her a fighting chance!

The beast shook its head a few more times and growled angrily as it turned and fixed Riley with its resentful eyes once more. Riley scrambled backwards and screamed desperately to her parents again, her hand fumbling around for a branch or any other weapon she could use to defend herself with as the wolf crouched down, preparing to lunge at her again.

 _This time it won't miss!_ Riley thought desperately as the creature got ready to leap straight for her throat, sensing that a kill was imminent.

Just as she was about to close her eyes and accept her awful fate, Riley heard loud yelling and banging and turning towards the sound, she saw her dad running to her. He was swinging a baseball bat and shouting at the top of his voice, his eyes wild with panic as he saw the huge black wolf attacking his daughter.

Not far behind him, Jill was yelling and banging some metal coffee mugs together, trying to make as much noise as possible in the hopes of driving the wolf away.

The beast glared at Riley's parents with a look of hate, realizing they had interrupted it before it could finish off its prey. Then turning its attention back to Riley briefly, it gazed deep into her eyes one last time before lashing out with its foreleg and racking her viciously across the left leg with its claws.

Then with a final savage growl, the mysterious beast turned and disappeared back into the woods.

In that same moment when the creature scratched Riley, Disgust felt like a sledgehammer had hit her in the chest as a wave of evil energy surged from the console and up her arm, which had been locked on a lever throughout the whole attack. The force of the blow sent the green Emotion flying backwards and her head struck the floor with a sickening _whack!_

Disgust let out a groan of distress as her eyes rolled back into her head and she convulsed violently before losing consciousness, her body giving a final shudder before she went still and lifeless on the floor…

Meanwhile, Riley's parents had reached her side as their daughter lay whimpering in a state of shock on the forest floor. She was shaking terribly and bleeding from the deep claw marks on her left leg as Bill scooped her into his arms and held her protectively.

Both he and Jill were in tears as Riley began crying from pain and shock in her father's arms, the reality that she had come so close to death hitting all of them hard.

"Oh my poor baby!" Jill sobbed as she buried her face in her daughter's hair and embraced her tightly.

"What was that thing?!"

She looked at her husband with tear-filled eyes and demanded desperately, "Bill, how badly did it hurt her?!"

Bill studied the scratch marks on Riley's leg with deep concern, rubbing her back soothingly as she cried long, shuddering sobs into his shoulder.

"Jill, go start the car!" he said at last, his voice trembling as he fought back his panic and tried to remain strong for all of their sakes.

"We are taking her to the hospital to see Dr. Mikkelsen right away!"

Back inside Headquarters, Fear had just woken up from his afternoon nap and decided that he needed a cup of tea before checking if he could be of any help to Disgust at the console.

The purple Emotion headed down the ramp and walked into the main room on his way to the kitchen. Along the way he glanced at the console and noticed that Disgust was nowhere to be seen.

 _That's strange…why would Disgust abandon her post and leave Riley unattended?_ Fear mused to himself as he made a detour to the console to find out what was going on.

As it turns out, he soon got an answer to that question as he looked down at the floor behind the console and received the shock of his life!

Fear found Disgust lying unconscious on the floor. Her beautiful glossy green hair was streaked with gray and her face was frozen in an expression of utter horror, her mouth twisted in a hideous scream with her eyes rolled back into her head, showing only the whites.

Upon stumbling on this gruesome find, Fear felt like his heart would explode out of his chest from fright! He gave a shriek of terror as he started shaking violently, already the dreadfully familiar sensation of a dizzy spell beginning to come over him.

The next moment, Fear felt the room begin to spin around him as his fright became so intense that he wound up losing consciousness and fainting right next to Disgust…

* * *

 **And so the curse of the werewolf is unleashed…**

 **Will Disgust and Riley overcome their harrowing ordeal? Will they ever be the same? Only time and the next chapter will tell!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and that I didn't make it too scary :)**

 **Please feel free to review and let me know what you think!**

 **Svinorita.**


	2. Hour of the Wolf

**Chapter 2 –** **Hour of the Wolf.**

A couple of hours had passed since Riley's parents rushed their daughter to hospital in a serious condition following the wolf attack in Muir Woods. All throughout the car journey from the National Park to the clinic, Riley had been hysterical, crying uncontrollably as the trauma from her terrifying ordeal replayed over and over in her head.

Her mother had wrapped Riley's injured leg in the picnic blanket as she tried desperately to slow the bleeding from those deep lacerations inflicted by the wolf's claws. But every time pressure was applied to her wounds, Riley would scream in agony as if she were being mauled all over again, and she begged her mom to remove the blanket, saying that it was the worst pain she had ever experienced in her life.

Now, as Bill and Jill sat by her bedside in a small hospital room while a nurse tended to their daughter's wounds, they both said silent prayers that she would be alright.

"This is all my fault!" Bill mumbled quietly to his wife as they watched Riley tossing fitfully in her sleep. She had been given a mild sedative so that she wouldn't feel as much pain while the doctor treated and cleaned her wounds.

"If I hadn't decided to take us out to those woods, none of this would have happened…" Bill commented guiltily, cradling his head in his hands.

Jill looked at her husband with tears streaming down her face and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself Honey. Hundreds of people visit those woods every day without incident. It was just a freak accident that Riley got attacked by that wolf…you couldn't have known it was going to happen!"

Bill sighed and continued staring at his daughter remorsefully. Riley stirred in her sleep and gave a little moan of discomfort as the nurse changed her bandages as gently as she could.

Suddenly there was a soft knock at the door and Doctor Mikkelsen poked his head into the room. He was a good-looking, young man who spoke with a Norwegian accent and upon seeing Bill and Jill's distraught expressions, he smiled reassuringly at them.

"Come with me Mr. and Mrs. Andersen. I want to discuss your daughter's prognosis with you in private."

Riley's parents exchanged worried looks with each other as they got up and reluctantly left the room where their daughter was being treated, following Doctor Mikkelsen down the hall to his office. The Doctor carried Riley's medical files under one arm as he opened the door to a small room at the end of the hall and gestured for Bill and Jill to take a seat at his desk.

He closed the door behind them and sat down opposite Riley's parents, a kind but serious expression on his face as he began flicking through Riley's medical report.

Bill and Jill held their breaths apprehensively as Doctor Mikkelsen read through the report briskly, before clearing his throat and looking up at them with a hopeful smile.

"Right here's the good news Mr. and Mrs. Andersen. Riley should make a full recovery in a few days! We didn't find any bite marks anywhere on her body. She has some deep, nasty scratches on her left leg, which we have disinfected and dressed. Also at this stage, I don't think she will be left with any permanent scarring."

Doctor Mikkelsen paused and studied Bill and Jill's relieved faces. He gave them a reassuring smile and added, "I have also given her a tetanus injection and at the moment I see no need to administer a rabies shot as she was not bitten, but I would like to run a few blood tests just to make sure we haven't missed anything."

Then the Doctor's smile melted away and his expression turned serious as he leaned forward and looked inquiringly at Riley's parents.

"Now I need you to tell me exactly what kind of animal did you see attacking your daughter?"

Bill took a deep breath and tried to explain what he saw as accurately as he could. On the one hand, he felt certain that the creature he saw was a huge black wolf...

But a part of him didn't quite believe what his eyes had seen. Something was very different about this creature and Bill found it hard to explain exactly what was wrong. Sure the beast _looked_ like a wolf, but at the same time it was just too big…

Not to mention its behavior was very uncharacteristic for a wolf.

Wolves rarely attack people. Like most other animals they have learned to avoid humans and over time, they have developed a healthy fear of people after centuries of hunting and trapping their kind. Plus this wolf was _alone_ when it attacked Riley and that makes its actions even more disturbing.

 _Why would a lone wolf risk attacking a human without the backup of a pack?_

But the strangest thing Bill had noticed about the creature was its eyes…in that brief instant when the beast had looked at him as he ran towards it shouting and swinging his baseball bat, Bill couldn't help feeling that he recognized something unmistakably _intelligent_ in those glowing yellow eyes as it stared back at him with pure hate.

It was almost is if its intentions were far more sinister and _deliberate_ , rather than just those of a predator stumbling on an opportunity for an easy meal…

Finally, Bill shook his head and replied apologetically, "In all honesty Doctor, everything happened so fast that it was kind of a blur! All I know for certain is that it was some huge wild beast…"

He furrowed his brow as disturbing images of the attack flashed through his mind. Bill saw his daughter lying on the ground, screaming for help as that awful creature loomed over her, ready to snuff out her life in an instant!

He shuddered to think how things might have turned out if he was only a second or two later…

Bill shrugged and gave a resigned sigh as he told the Doctor, "It looked like a black wolf, but there was something different about it. It was much bigger than a regular wolf and I can't explain why, but it seemed _smarter_ than any wolf I had seen before…"

He trailed off and glanced nervously at Doctor Mikkelsen, who had a thoughtful expression on his face as he encouraged Bill to continue with a small nod.

Bill turned his eyes to his wife and noticed that she had been sobbing quietly throughout his chilling description of the beast.

He took her hand and gave it a sympathetic squeeze as he said, "Jill and I were yelling and trying to make as much noise as possible and the wolf just stared back at us with this look of absolute hate, as if it was _angry_ that we had interrupted it! Then it growled at us before scratching Riley and running off into the forest."

Jill couldn't stand listening to the details any longer and she gave a loud wail of grief before breaking down. "I don't know what it was…but it was hurting my baby! Oh Riley! My beautiful little girl!"

Bill wrapped his arm comfortingly around his wife as her whole body shook from the force of her crying.

Doctor Mikkelsen listened in silent compassion as he gave Riley's parents a few minutes to deal with their anguish.

"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Andersen." He offered gently once Jill had managed to control her sorrow. Bill waited patiently for the Doctor to tell them the next course of action.

"I can assure you that your daughter will be well looked after at our clinic and she should be feeling better in no time! In the meantime, you can go back to her room and stay with her as long as you want to, but I have given her a sedative to help her fall asleep so she will probably be out for a couple of hours."

Doctor Mikkelsen folded his arms on his desk and informed in a sympathetic but stern voice, "I would also like to keep her here overnight for observation and run some bloodwork to rule out any secondary infections. Then she should be well enough to go home tomorrow."

Bill nodded solemnly as they listened to the Doctor's instructions. Jill glanced despairingly at her husband before reaching across the desk and grabbing Doctor Mikkelsen's hands in desperation.

"Please Doctor! Can I stay with her tonight? I can't bear the thought of leaving her like this!" Jill pleaded as she studied his face with tear-filled eyes.

Doctor Mikkelsen looked taken aback by her reaction, but his kind blue eyes twinkled in understanding as he nodded in consent.

"Of course you can! We will put a comfortable chair next to Riley's bed for you and you are welcome to stay as long as you like."

Then he turned to Bill and instructed calmly, "You are welcome to stay with her as well Mr. Andersen. But first I need you to go home and bring a fresh change of clothes for Riley."

The Doctor left the room and returned a few minutes later carrying a plastic bag containing the clothes Riley was wearing when she arrived at the clinic.

He offered the bag to Riley's parents and explained, "Here are the clothes Riley was wearing when you brought her in today. They are pretty badly ripped and dirty from the incident and I asked Nurse Szabo to remove them so her wound doesn't become contaminated."

Doctor Mikkelsen shrugged offhandedly. "What would you like to do with them? You can take them home if you wish. Or you could choose to leave them here and our staff will dispose of them."

Jill glared at the bag with contempt and declared without hesitation, "I never want to see those clothes again! Get rid of them!"

XXX

Inside Riley's Headquarters, Disgust began to stir as she felt a cold, wet handkerchief being pressed against her forehead.

The green Emotion let out a groan as her head pounded with a dull, throbbing pain. In fact her whole body felt as if she had been run over by the Train of Thought!

She drew in a few deep breaths and quickly discovered that it even hurt her to breathe!

Disgust opened her eyes slowly and through her blurry vision, she could make out the colorful shapes of four figures hovering over her.

She stared back at the blurry figures in confusion as her brain tried to piece together what had happened to her. She remembered that she had been alone at the console earlier today and that Riley had been in the woods when something attacked her…

Suddenly her eyes snapped open in terror as images of that monstrous black wolf with the evil yellow eyes appeared in Disgust's mind and she relived the horrific encounter all over again.

Disgust gave a whimper of distress and her vision slowly cleared to reveal the other Emotions standing around her in a half-circle as they studied her with deep concern. She felt a soft pressure on her hand and turning her head, Disgust saw Joy kneeling beside her, holding her by the hand as she mopped her forehead gently.

Joy felt her green colleague tense up under her fingertips, and she looked down at Disgust's face with her caring blue eyes.

"Oh! Thank goodness you're awake Disgust! What happened to you?! Are you feeling okay?" Joy inquired as Disgust stared at her with bloodshot eyes.

She was in a deep state of shock and she started to hyperventilate as she turned her gaze to the ceiling.

Then in a small croaky voice, Disgust mumbled to herself, "Riley! Riley got hurt on my watch!"

Joy patted her hand and whispered softly, "Now, now Disgust. That wasn't your fault. Stop blaming yourself for what happened…"

Without looking at the yellow Emotion Disgust muttered frantically, "You didn't see it…you didn't see the look in its eyes as it attacked Riley! It was so awful…!"

Fear gulped nervously and took a few steps back as the other three Emotions exchanged worried looks with each other.

"What are you talking about Disgust?" Anger demanded in a voice that came out sounding harsher than he intended.

He bit back a silent curse and tried again in a more compassionate tone, "What did you see?"

Disgust sat bolt upright and stared at her hands, which were shaking uncontrollably. Even now when she thought about that creature, she felt like an electrical current was flowing though her body. It was the same sensation she experienced when the beast had scratched Riley and looked into _her_ eyes as though Disgust had been its intended target all along, and by hurting Riley it knew that it could hurt Disgust too…

Disgust got to her feet in a daze and wobbled unsteadily, ignoring the strange looks she was receiving from the other Emotions.

"I need to sleep now…" She announced in a quiet voice as she turned and took a few shaky steps towards the ramp leading to her room.

Joy reached out her hand and grabbed Disgust by the arm as she staggered forward clumsily and nearly fell over.

"Whoa easy there Disgust! I think you should stay here with us." Joy cautioned as Disgust looked at her blankly.

"I don't know what happened to you and Riley, but you clearly need help. Stay here so we can keep an eye on you until we understand what we're dealing with."

Disgust gave no indication that she heard Joy's concerned advice. Instead she just gazed longingly in the direction of her room and mumbled adamantly, "No I need to rest…I really want to be by myself right now…"

Joy started to protest when she was interrupted by a soft tap on her arm. Turning, she found Sadness looking up at her with a serious yet understanding expression.

"She's right Joy." The blue Emotion said in her gentle, melancholy voice.

"Just let her rest…Disgust had a horrible afternoon and she needs some time on her own to get over it."

Disgust looked down at her blue coworker and gave her a half-smile of gratitude.

Joy sighed and finally nodded her head reluctantly.

Sadness went up to Disgust and gently took her by the hand as she offered, "Here, let me help you to your room Disgust."

"Thanks…" the green Emotion whispered as she allowed Sadness to lead her away from the others.

Meanwhile, Riley was still asleep in the hospital room. Her mother was seated beside her in a chair as she stroked her daughter's hand soothingly.

Every now and then, Riley would moan in her sleep and start thrashing around as she had nightmares about black wolves and blood-stained flowers.

During these moments of distress, Jill squeezed Riley's hand to let her know that she was right there beside her, watching over her.

"It's okay sweetie…Momma is here! You're safe now…I promise I won't let anything hurt you ever again!" Jill whispered softly into Riley's ear.

XXX

The next day, Doctor Mikkelsen announced that Riley was well enough to go home.

"Just make sure she gets plenty of rest and avoids putting too much pressure on that leg when moving around." He informed Riley's parents as they led their daughter out of the hospital room.

The Doctor also instructed her parents that they needed to change Riley's wound dressings at least twice a day and apply some foul-smelling ointment that he prescribed, insisting that it would speed up her healing time.

With that, the family piled into the car had headed for home, hoping they could start putting this awful ordeal behind them now that Riley was given the all-clear.

Inside Riley's Headquarters however, the outlook appeared less promising for Disgust…

It has now been a full 24 hours since Disgust retreated into her room to be alone, and she still hasn't emerged.

The other Emotions were beginning to feel deeply concerned about her self-imposed isolation, but no matter how much Joy persuaded her green companion to come out and rejoin the others, Disgust refused to leave her room.

"Give her time." Sadness told her worried coworker as Joy approached her about her concerns that afternoon following another unsuccessful attempt at trying to coax Disgust out of her room.

"She will come out when she's ready. We shouldn't force her."

It quickly became apparent that for reasons unknown to the other Emotions, Disgust craved solitude. Several days had passed since Riley was discharged from hospital and still the green Emotion hadn't set foot outside her bedroom door.

But there was one basic requirement that even she couldn't ignore…

She still needed to eat and drink fairly often to keep her strength up. And for this, she specifically requested that Fear bring her tea and toast once a day.

"Why me…?" Fear muttered nervously under his breath when Sadness told him about Disgust's demand one day.

He couldn't help feeling uneasy around the green Emotion ever since he found her unconscious behind the console the day Riley was attacked by the wolf.

Fear didn't want to be afraid of Disgust and his reluctance to help her made him feel terribly guilty and confused.

It's just that something was _different_ about her ever since that horrible day and he wasn't sure if the other Emotions could sense it but _he_ certainly could!

Whenever he passed by her door, his axon would spring straight up involuntarily as if alerting him that there was grave danger nearby.

He looked down at Sadness and ventured desperately, "I mean couldn't _you_ bring her food instead? She seems pretty comfortable around you…"

That was true. Ever since the incident in Muir Woods, Sadness seemed to be the only Emotion that Disgust accepted having in her presence. Maybe it was because Sadness didn't appear to be afraid of her like the others were and she just carried on as if things were normal whenever she was around Disgust.

Or maybe it was due to Sadness' gentle and understanding nature that made her an obvious choice of company?

Sadness just shrugged at Fear's suggestion and offered, "She said she wants you to do it."

Whatever the reason, Fear was deeply troubled that Disgust had suddenly asked for his assistance when just going near her sent him on the verge of a panic attack!

But he couldn't refuse to help just because he was uncomfortable around her…what kind of a friend did that make him!

Finally, Fear nodded and swallowed nervously.

"Very well. I'll do it…"

 _I just hope I make it out of that room in one piece!_ He thought to himself grimly.

XXX

Later that day, Fear approached Disgust's door carrying a serving tray with some toast and tea like she had asked for.

The purple Emotion paused before pushing open the door with his foot. His whole body was trembling so much that he ended up almost spilling the tea all over Disgust's toast as he whispered shakily, "Um Disgust? It's Fear. I'm bringing you the food you requested…"

"Thanks…just leave it by the door." Came Disgust's raspy reply, her voice sounding very strange…

 _Her voice sounds almost gravelly and old…_ Fear mused to himself with mounting trepidation.

Steeling his nerves, Fear peered into the darkness of the room. All the curtains were drawn and the whole room smelled musty and dank, causing him to scrunch up his nose in distaste.

The Disgust he knew _definitely_ wouldn't approve of this situation! But then again Disgust was a far cry of herself lately….

Fear did a quick scan of the room and his eyes finally made out a lump on the bed that he surmised was his green coworker. She appeared to be sitting up in bed, the covers drawn up to her chin so the only thing he saw was her green eyes, which had an unnaturally bright glow like those of a nocturnal animal as she fixed him with a hungry look.

Fear thought he heard a faint growl, like that of a dog or wolf coming from the green Emotion as he stifled a yelp of panic and hastily put the tray on the floor. Then he darted out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

He stood with his back pressed against the door, his breath coming in short ragged gasps as he pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart racing from the horror he had just witnessed.

Five minutes later, Fear rejoined his anxious coworkers as they eagerly awaited news on Disgust's current condition.

"Well how is she doing?" Joy asked worriedly as Fear approached, his face pale and his hands shaking.

The purple Emotion looked to the floor in despair as he answered in a small panicky voice, "She's still really traumatized and scary…I mean scared!"

His eyes darted around the room fitfully as his panic rose and he began stammering hysterically, "Yes she's scared…I'm scared…we're both scared! In fact everyone should be scared…!"

With that Fear raced out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him, leaving the others exchanging confused looks in his wake. A couple of seconds later, they all heard a door slamming loudly as Fear disappeared into his room, bolting the door shut behind him.

XXX

Disgust stayed isolated in her room for a whole week. During this time the other Emotions didn't speak about their green coworker much, as her behavior grew increasingly more unsettling. Instead they tried to carry on with their daily activities as normally as they could, hoping that whatever was ailing Disgust would run its course in time and she would recover eventually.

In the meantime all they could do was wait and hope for the best.

What the others didn't see however, was the strange transformation that began happening to Disgust during the nights…

First it started when her left leg (ironically at the same spot that Riley's leg had been scratched) began sprouting long green hair, which rapidly spread across her whole body and her carefully manicured nails turned into long, hooked claws.

More gray streaks appeared in her formally shiny green hair and it turned into a greasy and matted mess as she neglected to brush it. She stopped applying her makeup altogether and soon her pretty face was dull as she lost her radiant glow.

Disgust didn't even remember the last time she washed and soon she smelled like a wild beast, which oddly enough, didn't seem to bother her at all!

But worst of all were the nightmares…

As Disgust lay in her bed, writhing in agony while her body morphed into an unrecognizable monstrosity, she would get visions where she would see the yellow eyes of that evil beast bearing deep into her soul. It almost felt like the creature was telling her about itself, transferring its resentment into her so that _she_ felt all the hatred and fury _it_ felt.

As the visions became more and more frequent, Disgust felt herself slipping further and further under the beast's evil spell, her body feeling like hot lava was flowing through her veins as the ancient curse overcame her.

Then last night during a full moon, her gruesome transformation was finally complete!

Disgust crouched in a corner of her room as her body began to change: She became covered in thick green fur, the smell of decay clinging to her as she dropped onto all fours. Her nails turned into vicious claws and her teeth became sharp fangs as she felt a strong urge to rip somebody to pieces!

Luckily, poor gentle Fear didn't see her when she chased him from the kitchen that night, with the intention of killing him!

Fear had been on Dream Duty and decided that he wanted to make himself some tea when the incident took place. As the purple Emotion was leaving the kitchen with his steaming cup of tea, he heard a menacing growl coming from the corner of the room as Disgust prepared to spring at him, teeth bared and glowing green eyes flashing with malice.

Without looking in her direction, Fear dropped his cup and instinctively bolted down the hall, his ability to perceive danger and react spontaneously saving his life!

Disgust gave chase immediately and had she targeted any other Emotion, she would have caught her prey easily. But Fear was the fastest of all Emotions and in a flat-out sprint, he outpaced her effortlessly as he fled into his room, shrieking in terror and locking the door behind him.

XXX

The next morning, Disgust woke up in her bed with a pounding headache. She had no recollection of the horrifying events that took place last night. All she knew was that she felt **awful**! Her whole body was sore and her hands felt rough and bruised, as though she had been running on all fours like an animal or something!

Disgust raised her hands up to her face and studied them carefully as she tried to figure out why they hurt so much. That's when she received a terrifying shock as she inspected her nails and discovered what appeared to be dried blood under her fingernails!

Suddenly there was a knock on her bedroom door, and Fear poked his head in anxiously as he brought Disgust her breakfast.

"Oh Fear, am I glad to see you." Disgust remarked as the purple Emotion approached her bed nervously and placed the tray on her dresser.

"Something is happening to me, and I don't know what to do…I feel like I need someone to talk to."

Fear scratched the back of his neck anxiously as his axon sprang upright against his will, as it so often tended to lately when he came anywhere near Disgust. He ran his hand over the delicate sensory organ and pressed it back down as he stuttered, "Yeah no kidding! Something tried to attack me last night when I was on Dream duty!"

Disgust's eyes widened in shock and she felt her heart begin to pound with dread. _Did that awful black wolf come back?! What if it found a way to get to them in the Mind world?! Did it come back to get her?!_

"What was it? Did you see what it looked like?" Disgust demanded as Fear fiddled with his hands in trepidation.

"No! I just sensed something behind me and then I heard this terrifying growl..." Fear explained as his eyes darted around the room uncomfortably.

"I didn't stick around to see what it was! I just ran off as fast as I could and locked myself in my room! Then I heard this terrible scratching sound against my door as the monster tried to get in… but thankfully it couldn't and eventually it gave up and went away!"

Fear gasped and covered his mouth with his hands as he whispered in a shrill voice, "This morning I found claw marks all over my door…it was horrific!"

Disgust's breath caught in her throat as she glanced down at her bloodied fingernails with absolute dread.

 _NO! Could I have been responsible for threatening Fear last night?!_

She shook her head in disbelief and gazed back at her purple coworker, who had a horrified expression on his face as he uttered, "And apparently, I wasn't the only one who had a close call last night…"

He looked at Disgust with wide eyes and explained, "Anger read this morning in the _Mind Reader_ that 3 Mind Workers were found down at Dream Productions badly mauled and covered in blood. Apparently something attacked them so savagely that they were barely alive!"

Without waiting for a comment, Fear turned and left the room, whimpering quietly to himself about monsters and how no one was safe around here anymore.

Disgust gave a distraught moan and buried her head under her pillow.

"What is happening to me?!" She cried in desolation.

XXX

In the days following Riley's release from hospital, her parents noticed that something just wasn't right with their daughter.

Although her wound was healing nicely just like Doctor Mikkelsen had predicted, it soon became apparent that her mental scars ran far deeper than the physical ones…

Ever since they returned home, Riley became increasingly more withdrawn as she struggled to come to terms with the mental trauma of her ordeal. She didn't speak much since the attack and she would stare blankly into space for hours at a time.

Whenever her mom or dad tried to comfort her, she would shrug off their attempts roughly and retreat into her room without saying a word.

Then her parents noticed a disturbing change in her behavior one night that chilled them both to their cores…

On the same moonlit night that Disgust transformed into a werewolf and terrorized the Mind World, Jill went to check on Riley after she heard what sounded like a spine-chilling howl coming from her daughter's room.

Jill flung open Riley's door frantically, her heart sinking in despair as she found Riley huddled in a corner, shaking and whimpering miserably.

"Oh Riley! Sweetie what's wrong?" Jill sobbed as she rushed over to her daughter and embraced her protectively.

Riley suddenly went rigid in her mother's arms. Then without warning, she uttered a low growl and struck out with her right arm, intending to scratch Jill savagely across the back.

Fortunately Bill arrived on the scene just in time and he grabbed Riley's arm, restraining her as she twisted and writhed in his grasp while her terrified mother backed away in shock.

After a brief but violent struggle to break free of her father's grip, the fight finally drained out of Riley and she slumped forward in exhaustion. Bill caught her before she could fall to the ground and carried her over to her bed, studying her tortured face with a feeling of utter helplessness.

"Oh Riley, what's happening to you…?" he whispered in a shaky voice as he watched her suffering in her sleep.

"I promise I will do everything in my power to make you better sweetheart!"

He turned to Jill, who was standing by the door, crying in desperation and announced, "Tomorrow I am going to make an appointment with Doctor Michelle Cranston. She's a child psychologist and maybe she can help Riley overcome her mental demons…"

Just then there was a knock at the door and Bill furrowed his brow in confusion.

 _It's almost midnight. Who could be dropping by at this time of night…?_

Riley's parents left their daughter's room, Bill closing the door behind them as they went to answer the front door together.

They exchanged worried glances as they opened the door and discovered the nurse who had treated Riley at Doctor Mikkelsen's surgery standing outside with a very old woman beside her.

The nurse smiled sweetly at them and offered, "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Andersen. We met at the clinic the other day…"

Jill wiped a tear from her eye as she replied in a sullen voice, "Yes I remember you. You were the nurse who was looking after Riley aren't you?"

The young woman smiled and nodded in confirmation. "That's right! My name is Luminita Szabo…"

She gestured to the old lady standing beside her and added, "This is my grandmother, Alina Pop."

Suddenly the smile faded from Luminita's kindly face and her expression turned serious.

"We need to talk. I think my grandmother can help your daughter, Riley…"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **The curse appears to be in full swing (especially for Disgust, who suffered the brunt of the werewolf's fury) and only time will tell what will become of Riley and her Emotions!**

 **Maybe the two mysterious women who appeared on the Andersen's front porch in the middle of the night hold the answers to saving Riley before it's too late…?**

 **Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying this terrifying tale and I want to say thank you to Orangebird124, Tripledent, HollyAnne1084 and Karebear49 for your reviews :)**

 **I am going to take a break from this story for a moment and turn my attention to something a little lighter as I focus on the next chapter for "Midnight Blues". Yes it's TearBrick time!**

 **But don't worry. As soon as I write that chapter, I will return to this story and continue where I left off as I intend to have most of this story complete by Halloween. (I doubt I can finish the whole thing by Halloween, as it's shaping up to have quite a few chapters in it but let's see how we go!)**

 **Thanks again for reading and I hope you all stick around to find out what happens next!**

 **Svinorita.**


	3. Face The Shadow

**Chapter 3 – Face The Shadow.**

Despite the lateness of the hour, Jill welcomed the two women into her house (much to Bill's displeasure!), and the four of them made their way to the lounge room. As Jill encouraged Luminita and Alina to take a seat, Bill put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back into the hall out of earshot of their guests.

"Why did you invite them in Jill?" He hissed irritably into her ear.

"Can't you see something is off about them? I mean why would they show up in the middle of the night and offer to help Riley when they don't even know us?!"

Jill gave her husband an impatient look and sighed in frustration.

"Come on Bill! Don't you remember how kind and helpful that young nurse was to Riley back at the clinic? I see no reason why we shouldn't trust her!"

She put her hand on his shoulder and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Besides, she said that she knows a way to help Riley get better…I think we should at least hear what she has to say don't you?"

Jill averted her gaze to the floor miserably. "What have we got to lose anyway? Nothing else we've tried seems to have worked! At this point I'll try anything to save our little girl!"

Bill understood his wife's desperation. Of course he would do anything to help their daughter! Riley was clearly suffering from something far more serious than just post-traumatic stress…

Bill squeezed his wife's hand and nodded reluctantly. "Okay…I'll give them the benefit of the doubt."

Jill managed a small smile of appreciation and turning, she walked into the lounge to join their guests. After a moment's hesitation, Bill followed her and they both sat down on the sofa opposite the two women.

The nurse; Luminita, gave Riley's parents a friendly smile and began speaking calmly.

"We're sorry for dropping by so late Mr. and Mrs. Andersen! But I just finished my shift at the clinic about two hours ago."

She gestured to the old lady sitting beside her and explained, "As soon as I left the hospital, I stopped by at the nursing home to pick up my grandmother and then we came over as quickly as we could."

Bill looked over at Luminita's grandmother curiously. The old lady had a very serious expression on her face and she remained unsettlingly silent throughout her granddaughter's introduction. As Bill watched her closely, he noticed that she had what appeared to be a bead bracelet or something which she was absently fiddling with.

Bill found her whole demeanor very odd and he was about to ask Luminita why she needed to bring her grandmother along in the first place when suddenly the old woman looked up from the beads in her hand. Her steely gaze met Bill's eyes and he almost gasped from the intensity of her stare!

It was almost as if she could read his thoughts and she didn't look very pleased that he had questioned her right to be here (even though he hadn't actually _voiced_ his opinion!)

Luminita noticed Bill's discomfort and she cleared her throat gently to bring his attention back to herself.

"Remember when Doctor Mikkelsen asked you what you wanted to do about Riley's ripped clothes?"

Jill nodded slowly as she recalled the memory. "Yes. I told him that I never wanted to see those clothes again, and he said that someone at the clinic would dispose of them."

Luminita smiled and nodded in confirmation. "That's right!"

She pointed to her chest. "I was the one he assigned the task of disposing of those clothes…"

Seeing the Andersen's confused looks, Luminita took a deep breath and began explaining, "You see, my parents work at a funeral home and Doctor Mikkelsen asked me to take the clothes and dispose of them in our crematorium. But when I initially removed the clothes from Riley, I noticed something very unusual about the marks in the fabric…"

She paused and gave Riley's parents a serious look. "Something was very strange about this particular wolf attack on your daughter. Firstly, we don't get many wolves in these parts and certainly not so close to the city. In fact there haven't been reports of wolves attacking people near the Bay Area for over a century!"

She looked away apprehensively and continued, "Plus you said that this wolf _scratched_ Riley with its claws? Again wolves generally don't use their claws when they are either attacking or defending themselves. Like all members of the canine family, they tend to rely on their teeth more than their claws."

Luminita shook her head slowly and without making eye-contact with Riley's parents she said, "Nothing about this attack seemed normal, and when I approached Doctor Mikkelsen about my suspicions, he recommended that I consult my grandmother for advice."

Luminita patted her grandmother's knee proudly. "My grandmother knows more about wolves than anyone else I've ever met. Doctor Mikkelsen knows about her work with wolves through a family friend and he said that if she is willing to help Riley, she has his approval."

She gave a small chuckle as she recalled the Doctor's words. "He said that we could consider it the same as seeking a second opinion!"

Her smile quickly faded and she looked down sadly as she mumbled, "Please try and understand Mr. and Mrs. Andersen, there is no doctor qualified enough in the country that could help Riley with what she has…"

Jill and Bill exchanged worried looks with each other at this dire statement.

"What are you talking about…?" Bill demanded as he glared at the nurse critically.

"What do you mean by _what Riley has_? And why is Doctor Mikkelsen so obsessed with her case anyway?"

Luminita looked up at him and offered gently, "We will get to the details regarding Riley's affliction very shortly Mr. Andersen. As for why Doctor Mikkelsen is so concerned about Riley's welfare…"

She smiled warmly and responded, "You see Doctor Mikkelsen has become quite attached to Riley because she reminds him of his favorite niece back in Norway. She is about the same age as your daughter and ironically, her name is _Raili Andersen_!"

Luminita shrugged. Then she noticed Bill and Jill's perplexed expressions and she couldn't help giving a small chuckle.

" _Andersen_ is Norwegian in origin…it's possible that you and Doctor Mikkelsen could share the same ancestry somewhere in the past!"

The nurse shook her head dismissively. "Anyway, back to how my grandmother and I can help Riley…"

After the shock of finding out that his ancestors may have been Norwegian wore off, Bill turned his attention back to the old crone, who had remained so quiet that he had almost forgotten that she was in the room!

"And who exactly is your grandmother?" Bill ventured as he stared questioningly at the old lady.

"I mean no offense or anything, but she looks too old to be a doctor or a psychologist…"

Luminita laughed at his presumptions and informed, "You're right! She is neither of those! But I can assure you that she has a far better understanding of what has happened to Riley than any of those professionals."

Her smile disappeared as she studied the Andersen's with a deathly serious expression. "What I am about to tell you will sound weird, unbelievable even! But I need you both to open your minds and take this seriously okay?"

Jill grabbed her husband's hand anxiously as she took a shaky breath and nodded her consent. Bill raised his brow at this instruction but remained silent as he stared probingly into Luminita's deep brown eyes.

The nurse nodded and turned to look at her grandmother before speaking. The old woman had stopped fiddling with her beads and was staring back at the Andersen's with a grim expression.

Then in a very serious tone, Luminita said, "We believe that your daughter was attacked by a werewolf…and by scratching her, he has passed his ancient curse onto her!"

Jill gasped and cupped her hands to her mouth in shock. Her complexion paled and she started trembling as Luminita's words echoed around inside her head.

Bill snorted and rolled his eyes unconvincingly. "Whoa there young lady! Do you hear what you're saying?"

He gave Luminita a harsh look and sniped, "I suppose you're going to tell us next that you saw Elvis going for a midnight stroll in his blue suede shoes on your way here?!"

Jill shot her husband an irritated look and slapped him on the leg. "Bill! Don't be rude!"

Bill gritted his teeth in frustration and retorted, "Come on! You can't be serious!"

Jill sighed and looked at him with desperation. "Can you at least hear them out before you judge them?"

Bill glowered at Luminita, who gave him an innocent smile.

"Let me put it this way Mr. Andersen…have you noticed any strange behavior with Riley lately? I don't mean just the usual childish acting up, but really _weird_ behavior that can't be explained?"

Bill narrowed his eyes defiantly at her. "Well considered everything that she's been through lately can you blame the poor girl? She's still in shock! Wouldn't you be a little messed up too if you were in her situation?!"

From beside him, Jill balled her fists in frustration, her face turning red as she shot Bill a furious glare.

"Bill! Shut up!" She shouted.

Bill flinched from the severity of her tone. With a final grunt of dismissal, he looked away from his wife and their guests as Jill took a deep breath and addressed them with a shaky voice.

"I understand that she's feeling scared and confused and withdrawn…but I heard her howling earlier tonight and when I went to comfort her, she growled and tried to scratch me!"

Luminita's brow creased in worry.

"But she didn't _actually_ scratch you did she?" She asked grimly.

Jill swallowed back a sob as she answered, "No…Bill was there and he held her back before she could."

She sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand as she recalled mournfully, "The old lady next door has three cats who absolutely adore Riley. The other day they were outside when Riley walked past them on her way home from school. I was standing on the front porch at the time and I saw her stop and look at them and they went spastic! I have never seen those cats react like that before… they hissed at her and all the fur stood up on their backs! They were petrified of her!"

Luminita nodded her head solemnly as she listened to Jill's recount. Bill watched her with brooding contemplation, his mind still refusing to believe her crazy story about his daughter being attacked by a werewolf!

After a moment, Bill cleared his throat loudly and addressed the nurse tartly. "Excuse me Ms. Laminata…"

"Actually it's Mrs." Luminita corrected, holding up her finger and showing Bill her wedding ring.

"And please, just call me _Lumi_. Everyone does!" She added with a hint of annoyance at his mispronunciation of her name.

Bill stifled an impatient sigh. "Okay, Lumi. You still haven't told us who your grandmother is and how she is supposedly going to help Riley."

He fixed the old lady with a skeptical glare. "She hasn't even said a single word since you arrived!"

Lumi looked over at her grandmother and her face lit up with pride as she divulged, "Oh you see my grandmother's English is not so good…she comes from Romania."

She turned her attention back to Riley's parents, waving her hand dismissively as she explained, "I can assure you that she does understand most of what we have been discussing tonight, but she finds it difficult to speak English herself. That's why she has remained so quiet throughout our conversation."

As if on cue, Luminita's grandmother looked up and gazed directly into Bill and Jill's eyes, her intense stare making Bill shift uncomfortably in his seat.

Seeing their discomfort, the old woman gave them a stiff smile and nodded to her granddaughter to continue her explanation.

Lumi smiled warmly before going on, "My grandmother was born in a very small village in the Carpathian Mountains in northern Romania, close to the border with Ukraine. I don't know whether you are familiar with William Blake's quote…I'm not sure if I remember it correctly myself! But it goes something like this: _"There is the known and there is the unknown, and between them there are doors."_

Riley's parents looked at each other in confusion. Bill was about to make another snide comment but he was silenced by his wife, who prodded him firmly in the ribs with her elbow as she smiled apologetically at their guests.

"No, I'm afraid we don't know it." Jill replied as calmly as she could.

Lumi nodded in understanding and went on, "That's okay. The reason I bring it up in the first place is because it is relevant to my grandmother. You see when she was born, her own mother looked into her eyes and claimed that she saw an old soul staring back at her! She believed that her daughter was born with a special gift...that she has one foot on either side of the _"door"_ that William Blake was referring to in his quote…"

She leaned forward and put her hands on the coffee table between them, one at either end as she emphasized, "In other words, she has one foot in this world, and the other in the unknown or supernatural world. Her mother named her _Alina_ , which in our language means _"To Soothe."_

At the mention of her name, Alina looked up at her hosts and for the first time tonight, Bill could have sworn that he saw an almost friendly glint in her steely old eyes.

Lumi took a deep breath and continued, "Her mother was also the village healer and she passed her knowledge about natural remedies onto Alina. All throughout her childhood, Alina was taught the art of healing by her mother and she made many friends with the gypsy children that lived near her village. Some of the mothers and grandmothers of those kids were fortune tellers, and they showed her how to read tarot cards."

Lumi gave a light-hearted laugh. "Alina knows how to tell you your future by reading your palm, or if you enjoy drinking Turkish coffee, she can look into your empty cup and give you a pretty accurate reading! But her biggest gift is that she can talk to spirits…"

Luminita sighed and patted her grandmother's hand sadly. "Her mother died when Alina was only 8 years old…but she never truly left her! Even to this day, Alina still talks to her mother! She also communicates with her son who died from pneumonia when he was 5 years old. She has had her fair share of love and sorrow, and she can use her gift to reach other people's loved ones who have passed away."

Jill listened in respectful silence, a tear rolling down her cheek as she sympathized with Alina's loss. This poor woman has been through so much heartache in her life…Jill couldn't begin to imagine how she could cope if she were to lose Riley like Alina lost her son!

Bill on the other hand, was feeling less compassionate than his wife and he furrowed his brow skeptically at the two women.

"I don't know…all this talking to dead people and spiritual mumbo-jumbo sounds like some heavy duty juju to me! Forgive me if I'm finding your story a little hard to believe, but I am a practical person. I believe in things that I can at least see and that make logical sense!"

Lumi gave him a patient smile and offered calmly, "I understand Mr. Andersen. In some cultures, my grandmother might be called a _shaman_. In others she might even be regarded as a _witch_! But to us she is simply a healer and a messenger between worlds."

Luminita nodded proudly, her brown eyes twinkling in excitement as she stated, "And believe me, she does know the nature of the wolf! When she was young…not much older than Riley is actually…the Carpathian Mountains were roaming with wolves! Her father was a wolf hunter. He used to set traps all over the mountains, but Alina always followed him and destroyed the traps as soon as her father wasn't looking."

She paused and looked at her grandmother in admiration. "On one such occasion, Alina's father trapped and killed a mother wolf, and he noticed only afterwards that she had a single pup hiding nearby. Knowing that the pup would die on its own, he brought it back to the village and gave it to Alina to take care of, since he knew how much she loved animals! Alina took that pup and named him _Lup_ **(*Pronounced Loop*)** which is the Romanian word for _Wolf_."

Alina smiled fondly at this memory, a silent tear rolling down her wrinkly old face as she remembered her precious friend.

Lumi squeezed her hand warmly as she explained, "She loved that pup very much. She raised him and he followed her everywhere…he even slept on her bed at night! Eventually as he grew bigger, she started taking him into the forest at the foot of the mountains, where she knew there were many wolf packs roaming. Strangely, those wild wolves never attacked her or Lup…it was almost as if they could sense that she was their friend and that she wanted to help them!"

Bill grunted and rolled his eyes. "And let me guess…that wolf ended up turning into a werewolf and Hollywood made a movie about it?!"

Lumi laughed off his outburst casually and corrected, "Oh no Mr. Andersen! Not _that_ wolf! That particular wolf ended up joining a wild pack when he was fully grown…but throughout the rest of his life, Lup never forgot about Alina and he continued to visit her long after he returned to the wild!"

Alina nodded sadly at the memory as she waited for Lumi to continue.

Luminita chuckled softly and exclaimed, "But Hollywood _did_ make a movie about a werewolf…if I am not mistaken, _Van Helsing_ was based in Romania!"

She held up her hand in a way that implied patience and added, "I know what you are thinking and before you mention it, yes I am aware that they made Dracula which was set in Romania also! But please understand that Hollywood got that legend all wrong! Dracula was a real person, in fact he was a Romanian prince with a reputation for being extremely cruel…but cruel things were done to him too! Even so, he was not undead or a vampire like Hollywood made him out to be!"

Alina gave a silent chuckle at the mention of this common misconception, and as Bill looked on, he decided that he preferred her when she was all dark and serious…there was something very unnerving about her mute laughter and Bill didn't like it one bit!

Lumi spread her hands wide and took a deep breath as she concluded, "So you see Mr. and Mrs. Andersen? If anyone can understand what's happening to Riley, it's my grandmother. When I initially showed her Riley's ripped clothes, she discovered some coarse black hairs stuck to the fabric which we believe came from the creature that attacked her."

Alina took her granddaughter's hand in hers and deposited the colorful beads she was fiddling with into her hand. She nodded towards Riley's parents and Luminita held out her hand, showing them the beads as she explained, "In addition to the hairs, we found these colorful glass beads. At first I thought that maybe Riley was wearing a bracelet and that's where they came from. But actually my grandmother believes…"

Before she could finish talking, they were interrupted by a heart-wrenching sob coming from the doorway to the lounge. All four adults turned towards the sound, and much to their surprise, there was Riley standing in the entrance to the room, her face streaked with tears as she gave another shuddering sob.

Riley stared at the strangers in her home with wide eyes, her lip beginning to quiver as she wailed, "Please help me…!"

Her parents both jumped up immediately at her desperate cry, Jill opening her arms wide as she whispered in a soothing voice, "Oh sweetie! We're here…"

That's when something truly unexpected and amazing happened…

Ignoring her mother's attempt to reassure her, Riley walked right past her parents as though she were in a trance and collapsed desperately into Alina's welcoming embrace.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **I know this chapter largely focused on the two Romanian women; Luminita and Alina. But I had to disclose some background info about those two characters before we can get to helping Riley and Disgust, because in order to understand how Alina can help Riley in the first place, you needed to find out a little more about her and her special gift!**

 **As for how I know so much about the Carpathian Mountains and Eastern Europe, I mentioned in my profile that I am of Slovakian background and Slovakia is very close to Romania, so our cultures overlap a little!**

 **Anyway, in the next chapter we will learn a bit more about the werewolf and specifically that particular werewolf that attacked Riley. How you ask? Let's just say that Alina can use her special gift to find out more about that beast's life than anyone would think possible! In a way, she needs to help him in order to help Riley…but you'll have to read on to find out how she does that :)**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters and I promise I will squeeze at least one more chapter of this story in before Halloween arrives!**

 **But before that, I would like to update either "One Summer of Joy" or "Secrets of an Emotional Mind" as they are both a little overdue for an update :)**

 **Svinorita**


	4. Unmasking The Legend

**Chapter 4 – Unmasking The Legend.**

The past few days had been chaotic inside Headquarters! Ever since Disgust came down with that mystery illness (her symptoms showing disturbing similarity to Riley's odd behavior), the other Emotions have started acting strangely too…

Everyone that is except for Fear!

As Disgust's condition worsened and her behavior grew stranger by the day, Fear remained true to his nature…he was never more terrified in his entire life!

The purple Emotion found himself constantly looking over his shoulder, as though he expected that horrible monster that had tried to catch him a few nights ago to be lurking in every shadow, just waiting for another chance to attack!

He began shaking uncontrollably, to the point that he could no longer enjoy his favorite cup of tea to soothe his frayed nerves. His incessant trembling was so bad, that he wound up spilling the tea all over himself before he could even take a sip!

Fear couldn't understand why he felt the need to be on guard at all times lately. But one thing became indisputably clear...

He felt most terrified whenever he was around Disgust.

It seemed that even in his sleep, Fear couldn't escape from the terror that had besieged Headquarters ever since Riley and Disgust got sick. He would be plagued by awful nightmares every time he closed his eyes, only to wake up with that dank, musty smell he had noticed in Disgust's room lingering in his nostrils.

Sometimes he thought he heard growling and scratching in front of his bedroom door. Even though he always kept his door locked at night, Fear decided that he needed to take special precautions to ensure that terrifying beast doesn't break in…

So the purple Emotion started barricading his door with his bedside dresser in addition to triple-locking it whenever he went to sleep every night. And just for good measure, he carefully set a few mousetraps around the door as an extra line of defense!

And it seems Disgust's illness was affecting the other Emotions in different ways…

Sadness seemed to be weeping more than usual lately. She would spend hours observing her coworkers carefully from a distance, never saying much (as she kept her thoughts mainly to herself these days.)

Initially, Sadness had been the only Emotion even remotely comfortable around Disgust ever since she became sick. But by the end of the week, even gentle, compassionate Sadness was feeling uneasy around her green colleague.

But despite her reservations, the blue Emotion desperately wanted to help her stricken friend…

So as the days went by and Disgust's condition worsened, Sadness made a quiet resolve that she would get to the bottom of the mystery - with or without the help of the other Emotions!

No matter what the cause of Disgust's affliction was, she would try to do everything in her power to help her friend!

Now she just needed to find out what was wrong and how she could help…

Anger on the other hand, was wondering what the hell had gotten into everybody! He was frustrated that everyone was acting so weird - especially Disgust - that it seemed no amount of raging and bursting into flames would work in this situation!

So instead, the temperamental red Emotion tried a different approach…

Since deep-thinking is a skill that doesn't come naturally to Anger, his sudden silence and seriousness unnerved the other Emotions. They found his demeanor strange and pretty soon, rumors started spreading around Headquarters that something was wrong with the console and that it was responsible for all the weird stuff that was happening to them lately!

Could the console have somehow malfunctioned and transmitted whatever illness Riley was suffering from onto Disgust? Does that mean the rest of them could become sick too?!

Even happy, positive Joy found the prospect of a defective console unsettling. She could normally be depended upon to cheer everybody up even under the bleakest of circumstances. But the stress and strangeness hanging over Headquarters like a storm cloud lately was beginning to take its toll on her as well…

Over the past few days, Joy had become increasingly nervous and jumpy whenever Disgust was anywhere in the same room as herself and the others. She was aware that her actions were influencing the way the other Emotions reacted around Disgust too, and she felt incredibly guilty about it.

As Riley's Lead Emotion, the others looked up to her to make the best decisions regarding their welfare. Therefore if she acted like there was cause for concern, the others tended to follow her example instinctively.

Joy wished that she wasn't so uneasy around her green co-worker. Yet at the same time she felt utterly helpless whenever Disgust was anywhere near her, and it troubled her deeply that she couldn't understand what triggered these irrational feelings towards her…

That only left Disgust herself.

If the green Emotion felt offended by her co-workers' stigma towards her lately, she didn't show it. In fact Disgust appeared to welcome and even encourage the isolation! She would deliberately go out of her way to avoid the others and still spent the majority of her time locked away inside her room.

So on the night that Luminita and her grandmother knocked on the Andersen's front door, Disgust did something that none of the other Emotions were expecting…

She volunteered to take Dream Duty!

Normally Disgust despised doing Dream Duty _almost_ as much as Fear or Anger did. So her unexpected demand definitely sent alarm bells ringing in the minds of the other Emotions.

Why would Disgust, whose condition was by now so bad, suddenly offer to take Dream Duty?!

The other Emotions stared aghast at their green colleague as she stood before them and repeated her strange request. She was barely a shell of her former beauty and grace!

She swayed weakly as she stood there, her breathing coming in raspy, uneven breaths. Her skin had lost its radiant glow so that now she appeared almost gray rather than green. Her beautiful hair was a tangled mess on top of her head, and her eyes, once filled with so much spirit, were now permanently bloodshot and full of suffering.

No one dared to oppose her as they hastily got out of her way and watched as Disgust dragged herself over to the console and leaned forward with a groan, placing her hands on the panel to steady herself, her head hanging low in exhaustion as she took a few shallow breaths.

The other Emotions exchanged frightened looks. They all remembered what happened the last time Disgust was left alone at the console and the memory troubled them deeply. But they were equally afraid of being exposed to the console themselves, as they believed that it had something to do with Disgust's illness…

So with very few alternatives at their disposal, the other Emotions reluctantly made their ways into the safety of their own rooms, hoping that things would return to normal soon for Riley and Disgust.

They were all secretly praying for a miracle…

XXX

Meanwhile in the Andersen's lounge room, Alina held Riley in a comforting embrace. The old lady was speaking to her softly in a foreign language, all the while rocking her like a baby to calm her down as Riley sobbed and trembled in her arms.

While she was doing this, Alina pulled out a sealed bag of what appeared to be a mixture of dried herbs and spices from her pocket. She handed the bag to her granddaughter; Luminita and instructed her to prepare a special brew for Riley.

Lumi answered her grandmother in the same foreign tongue. "Romanian." She explained to Riley's worried parents as they watched the scene with mounting trepidation.

"Come with me Mrs. Andersen. This is your house after all and I would not feel comfortable using your kitchen without your permission." Lumi admitted with a polite smile.

Jill nodded wordlessly as she got up and escorted her guest to the kitchen. While the two of them were preparing the special herbal tea together, Bill stayed with the old lady and his daughter. He kept his eye protectively on Riley as Alina continued whispering to her in Romanian and stroking her hair gently.

Apart from the occasional whimper or groan of distress, Riley appeared much calmer in the old woman's arms than Bill had seen her be for days now. It was almost as if the strange old healer had woven a protective blanket around the girl and she was shielding her from all the physical and mental turmoil she was experiencing lately.

After a couple of minutes, Luminita and Jill returned with a steaming mug of the herbal drink. Alina said something to Lumi in Romanian and her granddaughter handed her the mug. Then Alina turned her attention back to Riley and spoke in a soothing voice. Although she couldn't understand the words, Riley sipped the drink obediently when the old woman offered her the mug and before long she had fallen into a relatively peaceful sleep right there in Alina's arms.

The whole time this was going on, Alina spoke to Riley's parents about what had happened to their daughter and how she had contracted the curse of the werewolf. Luminita listened carefully and translated for them, her expression grim as she explained the true severity of the situation.

As much as they didn't want to believe the things being said to them, both Bill and Jill could no longer dispute the evidence they were hearing. As unbelievable as it sounded, Riley really has been attacked by a creature that is supposed to be merely a legend, a nightmare invented by people to scare children from venturing into the woods on their own…

Except this legend turned out to be real. Werewolves, or something resembling these nightmarish beasts of legend, really do exist!

And now one of them has attacked their little girl!

Inside Headquarters, Disgust was listening to the horrifying news via the monitor. A silent tear rolled down her cheek as she found out the awful truth behind her and Riley's illness. She felt her heart pounding in fright and a scream of anguish nearly escaped her throat.

 _That thing that attacked them was a werewolf?! How was that even possible?! Does this mean that both she and Riley are monsters as well now?!_

Without realizing what she was doing, Disgust walked over to the screen and pressed her trembling hand against the warm surface. Her fingers reached out longingly towards the old lady that was cradling Riley, wishing that she could be comforted by her as well.

"Please…" she rasped weakly, staring into the eyes of the wise old healer. "You've got to help us…you're the only one who can!"

Meanwhile, Lumi was speaking quietly to Bill and Jill, her voice barely above a whisper so as not to wake up Riley.

"My grandmother tells me that your daughter is very strong-minded. Whatever coping mechanism she has in her mind…be it a guardian angel or some other special protector… _something_ was watching over Riley that fateful day and saved her by absorbing the brunt of the curse. Somehow this unseen protector transferred the rage of the werewolf onto itself, and it is because of this that Riley was spared the full effects of the curse!"

Lumi paused and studied Bill and Jill's astounded faces. "Now we have to help this little guardian by lifting the curse…only then will Riley make a full recovery."

Alina whispered something to her granddaughter in a serious tone, never taking her eyes off Riley as she traced a finger across her forehead. It was almost as if she were trying to see into her mind…

Luminita's eyes widened in wonder as she listened to the old woman's words. She gave a gasp of surprise and repeated a question in Romanian, her sudden astonishment making Riley's parents shift uncomfortably in their seats.

"What? What is she saying Lumi?" Jill asked in a small nervous voice.

Bill grabbed his wife's hand and squeezed it anxiously. For the first time tonight he didn't trust himself to speak, dread gripping his heart like a cold vice.

Taking a moment to compose herself, Luminita answered in an awestruck voice, "My grandmother says that she can see a little girl inside Riley's mind, glowing with green light! This must be a special sign, as green is the color of healing…"

Lumi shook her head slowly and uttered, "I don't know what this could mean, but whatever this glowing green entity is, my grandmother believes that it saved your daughter!"

Bill and Jill exchanged confused looks with each other, their minds reeling as they processed Luminita's words. They both had so many questions, but for some reason neither could find a way to voice their thoughts. Instead, all Riley's parents could do was gape at the old lady cradling their daughter in her arms with eyes that were filled with wonder.

Alina on the other hand, looked as calm and unperturbed as ever. She leaned forward and gently blew on Riley's forehead, caressing her head as she did so. Was she trying to communicate with this mysterious green entity? This so-called guardian angel supposedly inside Riley's mind?

None of them knew for sure, but whatever she was doing, it seemed to have a soothing effect on Riley. The girl let out a deep contented sigh in her sleep, her whole body relaxing in the old healer's arms as everyone watched in silent wonder.

After a few minutes, Alina turned her gaze back to her granddaughter and resumed speaking to her quietly, a quick nod directed at Riley's parents indicating that she wanted Lumi to translate for her.

Lumi took a deep breath and fixed Riley's parents with a grim expression. "Now it's time for me to tell you everything my grandmother discovered about the werewolf that attacked your daughter…"

She cast her eyes to the floor sadly and began. "It was a very old beast, and one that was deeply unhappy and troubled. He carried a deep resentment towards humans and it didn't help that he was also badly wounded at the time he attacked Riley. My grandmother can't say for sure how he got hurt, but she reckons he came from far away in search of those strange red flowers that grew near the site of Riley's attack. Apparently those flowers have special healing properties for these rare beasts…she says they are called _"Wolf's Blood."_

Lumi looked up at Riley's parents, her eyes filled with sympathy as she continued. "That's the reason why this beast was so angry at Riley…she was between him and those flowers - his salvation. In that terrible moment, he decided that she was an obstacle and he needed to get rid of her! But just as he was about to attack, he looked into Riley's eyes and something made him hesitate. True. He still succeeded in hurting Riley pretty badly, but things could have turned out much worse if it wasn't for the unseen force…this _Green Angel_ as my grandmother says…that the beast recognized in her eyes."

Luminita paused as she listened to Alina's detailed recount. Although the old healer was speaking to her granddaughter in Romanian, she focused her steely eyes at Bill and Jill the whole time, making them uncomfortable from her intense glare.

Lumi took another deep breath and continued translating solemnly. "You see, this beast's mother belonged to a tribe of people who possessed the ancient power of shape-shifting. They had the ability to change their form from human to beast and back again at will. This was the power of the first werewolf. Our beast's father on the other hand was a true werewolf, meaning that he suffered from the original werewolf's curse. What set him apart from the shape-shifters is that he could only change form during a full moon…a bit more like the traditional werewolf I'm sure you're familiar with from horror movies!"

Lumi gave a humorless chuckle. "Apparently, our beast's father was initially a human. But somehow he ended up being attacked and bitten by a true werewolf. He probably would have been killed too…had the beast's shape-shifting mother not intervened and saved him! But it was already too late. The curse had been passed onto him and he was no longer in control of his fate. By day he was human, but by night he was forced to change into the very creature that nearly took his life."

Luminita shrugged and noted, "Maybe this was for the better, because already he couldn't help falling in love with the female shape-shifter who saved him. It was from this union that our beast was born…"

The nurse stopped and looked to her grandmother, who had suddenly gone silent. The old lady's eyes were closed and she was mumbling something under her breath.

Bill raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What's she doing now? Talking to one of her dead buddies or something?"

Jill nudged him with her elbow. "Bill! Show some respect!" She hissed irritably.

Lumi noticed their dissent and gave a small laugh to put their minds at ease. "Oh no, it's nothing like that Mr. Andersen! My grandmother is just trying to see things clearly. I have mentioned before that she is very accurate at predicting peoples' futures. She can also see things that have happened in the past...but sometimes these visions are a little harder to piece together."

Finally Alina opened her eyes, her expression remaining as stoic as always and resumed speaking to Luminita in Romanian.

Lumi listened in silence for a while, her expression turning sad as she translated for Riley's parents. "My grandmother says that our beast's mother did not survive giving birth to him. As soon as her tribe found out about her passing, they were very resentful towards her child because his mother was a very important member of their society. The only one who felt any pity for the child was his grandmother, but she was too old to look after him by herself. So the tribe rejected him and they cast him out, leaving him at his father's doorstep one night."

She sighed and continued. "Unfortunately his father wanted nothing to do with his son either. He was heartbroken when he learned that the love of his life was dead. So he started drinking to drown out his sorrow and as time went by, he began venting his anger at his son. From the very first moment he saw him, he blamed him for taking his loved one away from him. As a result, he punished his son by making his life a living hell."

Lumi turned her gaze to the floor, her brown eyes filling with tears as she unraveled the story. "As the young shape-shifter grew older things only got worse for him. He never had any friends and it seemed that everybody hated him. Kids would avoid him and call him nasty names because he was weird and always sulking. They bullied him relentlessly and beat him up any chance they got. Wherever he went, all he saw _disgust_ in people's eyes…"

"Then one day, he couldn't control his anger anymore. He changed form from human to beast and attacked a group of kids that were teasing him. I will spare you the graphic details of that attack as it truly was horrific! But it seems that once he had tasted blood, he couldn't stop and eventually he allowed the ancient power that he was born with to completely consume him…" she shivered and wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked up again.

"So as you can see, this poor creature had a very tormented life. His mother died because of him. Her tribe resented him. His father was disgusted by him and all humans despised him. He never felt any love and happiness in his life. He is a loner by nature, doing his best to avoid everybody and live a reclusive existence."

Luminita listened solemnly as her grandmother finished recounting her findings and fell silent once more. The old healer nodded to herself as though she were making a silent promise…

Maybe to Riley? Or perhaps to the long-suffering werewolf? Nobody knew for sure.

Lumi gave a sad smile as she finished translating for their audience. "Even so, it appears that somebody still managed to find a way to hurt him…"

"That sounds terrible…" Jill agreed sadly as Lumi trailed off and looked to the floor miserably.

Yes. This beast had attacked her little girl brutally and she hated the creature for all the pain and suffering it not only inflicted on Riley, but on herself and Bill as well. For over a week now, all they could do was watch helplessly as Riley slipped further into the grips of the curse it had unleashed on her!

Yet after listening to Lumi reveal the awful details of the creature's tormented life, a part of her couldn't help feeling sorry for the werewolf. It's hardly surprising that he's so angry with everyone given the cruel card fate had dealt him from birth!

Jill understood that this was no excuse for all the anguish the beast had inflicted on innocent people like Riley throughout its lifetime. And at least Riley had _survived_ her encounter with the werewolf…

Jill shuddered visibly at the thought that many of its previous victims probably weren't so fortunate!

But despite all of this, Jill was a very compassionate person. She didn't like anyone to suffer, and consequently she found herself having terribly conflicted feelings towards this beast…

Bill on the other hand, appeared to be as stubborn and critical as ever! He furrowed his brow skeptically at Alina and fixed the old healer with a harsh stare.

"And may I ask, how did you come to this fascinating conclusion?" He sniped rudely.

"Did your grandmother look into her crystal ball or something? How could she possibly know that creature's entire life story just from looking at a few hairs recovered from Riley's clothes?!"

The corner of Lumi's eye twitched at his blatant show of disrespect. The young nurse had remained so kind and understanding to her hosts throughout the night. Now it looked like she was finally reaching the limits of her patience with Bill's obnoxious attitude towards herself and Alina!

But Luminita was used to dealing with difficult patients at her workplace and remained true to her nature.

The young nurse put on a tolerant smile and answered levelly, "No. actually she was able to learn all those things from these beads…which may I add, I was about to explain to you before Riley decided to join us!"

Without waiting for a reply, Lumi reached across the table and grabbed hold of Bill's hand forcefully.

"Hey! What…?!" Bill started to protest. But his complaint was cut short the instant Luminita deposited the beads into his hand and pressed his fingers closed, so that she was forcing him to hold the beads in a fist.

Bill's eyes widened in shock as he registered a powerful tingling sensation coming from the beads as he held them. It almost felt like they were pulsating with an ancient, malevolent energy…and the longer he held onto them, the stronger the tingling became.

Finally Bill almost cried out from pain as the beads grew so hot in his hand, that they began to burn him!

He looked up desperately into Luminita's deep brown eyes and she finally released his hand, a sly smile on her face as Bill dropped the beads onto the table like they were burning coals.

"Now you see Mr. Andersen?" She asked after a moment. "There are powerful forces in this world that cannot be explained logically."

She pointed to the beads and informed, "Those beads belonged to the werewolf that attacked Riley. And because of my grandmother's sensitivity to the supernatural, she was able to gain knowledge about his life by touching something that is linked to him."

Bill was still holding his sore hand and staring at the nurse with startled eyes. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he really couldn't find a logical explanation for what he had just experienced!

Not knowing what else to do, Bill nodded at her dumbly.

"So what do we do now…?" He asked in a small voice.

Lumi's expression turned serious and she looked over at Riley's sleeping form worriedly. "Now, the really difficult and dangerous part begins…"

She took a deep breath and stated, "It is time to lift the curse from your daughter…"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Another chapter is done and dusted! I can assure you all that things are about to get intense for Riley and her** _ **Little Green Angel**_ **in the following chapters…**

 **But before I mention anything else, I just want to say that I did some research on werewolves before writing this chapter and this is what I found out:**

 **Apparently, there are 3 different types of werewolf and after looking back at the characteristics of our Beast in this story, I decided that he fits into two of these categories. (I guess that makes him a special hybrid!)**

 **Firstly there is the Shape-Shifter Werewolf (just like the beast's mother) and this type of werewolf can change form at will instead of having to wait for a full moon. Our beast fits this type because he attacked Riley during the middle of the day, not to mention that he prefers to spend most of his time in the form of a huge black wolf rather than a human. However, what sets the Shape-Shifter Werewolf apart from other kinds is that their power is inherited from birth and they** _ **cannot**_ **pass on the werewolf curse by biting someone…**

 **The second category that our beast falls into is the True Werewolf. (I decided to make his father this type!) This werewolf has no control over their ability to change form and they can only change during a full moon and are stuck in wolf form until daylight arrives. However only this type of werewolf can pass on the curse by attacking a person (the way our beast attacked Riley and cursed both her and Disgust!)**

 **Therefore he is part Shape-Shifter because he can change form at will, and part True Werewolf since he can pass the curse onto other people!**

 **Anyway that's enough about the beast for now…next we'll find out how Alina goes about curing Riley and Disgust. (Although in Disgust's case, she is going to need help from one of her fellow Emotions as well as Alina…Exactly who is going to save her? You'll have to wait and see in the following chapters!)**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapters and I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far :)** **Before I get working on the next chapter, I will turn my attention over to "One Summer of Joy" because that story has gone the longest without an update recently and I have some ideas for it!**

 **Happy Halloween everybody and I wish you all a great time!**

 **Svinorita.**


	5. Messages From Shadowland

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Before I get started with this chapter, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is a fan of this story for being so patient in waiting for an update!**

 **I know it has been a while since I last updated this story and I'm sorry for making you wait! But I've just been so busy with working on my other stories that I have going on at the same time as this one and I just haven't been able to find time to get back to this story while trying to finish some of the others simultaneously!**

 **Anyway, now that I have finished one of my other stories, I decided that I'm going to concentrate on updating this story regularly this month until I have finished it, in addition to working on my new Christmas request "Merry Emotional Christmas". I plan on rotating between these two until I have completed both while "One Summer of Joy" and "Secrets of an Emotional Mind" will have to take a backseat for a while…**

 **(That's what happens when you try to write multiple stories at the same time! Some of them inevitably end up going a long time between updates. I do love having a few stories in progress at once, since its fun switching back and forth between different topics and I find it helps keep my imagination sharp and the ideas flowing, but it can be very challenging trying to keep on top of everything sometimes!)**

 **Now it's time to get back in the Halloween mood and let's see how the wise old healer; Alina went about lifting the werewolf's curse from Riley! And don't forget that Disgust is going to need some additional help from a brave Emotion (or two!) to cure her of the evil that has taken over her soul…**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – Messages From Shadowland**

Disgust stared at the monitor, hypnotized by what she had heard. She was gazing intensely into Alina's eyes, trying to send the old healer a message…

She was sending out a silent plea for help with every last particle of her being.

Disgust was desperately trying to communicate to Alina that Riley isn't the only one who needs her help in getting rid of the werewolf's evil curse…she needs to be healed as well!

She recalled hearing how Luminita translated to Riley's parents that her grandmother believed some unseen force inside Riley's mind had saved her from the full brunt of the werewolf's curse, and how Alina claimed to have seen a little girl glowing with green light when she had caressed Riley's forehead.

How had she referred to this entity again?

 _Little Green Angel…_

Disgust gave a heartbreaking wail of desperation and collapsed onto her knees in front of the monitor. Her bloodshot eyes filled with tears as she stared at Alina through Riley's eyes and she began to sob uncontrollably, her breath coming out in ragged gasps that shook her whole body from the force of her grief.

"Please! You have to help me too! I am the _Little Green Angel_ that shielded Riley from the full evil of the curse! You must know I exist! You saw me…" She wept despairingly.

She reached out her hand towards the screen in a feeble gesture for help. Disgust couldn't help thinking about the cruel irony of her situation…

Alina was so close that Disgust could hear the sound of her soothing breath through the intercom as the old lady cradled Riley in her arms, her ancient eyes full of kindness and reassurance as she gazed into Riley's eyes almost as though she was seeing straight through the monitor at Disgust.

Yet at the same time, the healer was so far away! As an Emotion, Disgust and Riley lived in two different worlds and these worlds were destined to remain separated forever. As much as she yearned to, Disgust knew that Alina could never physically comfort _her_ the way she was doing to Riley.

 _But you do know I exist…_ Disgust thought to herself with renewed hope. _You are not like most people…you know that I…that_ _ **we**_ _are real! You can see Emotions can't you…?!_

Disgust felt a surge of strength flow through her as she got to her feet slowly and stared at the monitor with steely determination. "I know you can see me right now, but can you _hear_ me as well?"

The green Emotion took a step closer to the screen, her eyes flashing with decisiveness as she commanded willfully, "You must help both of us somehow! Riley needs to be healed completely and I am a part of her! There must not be a single trace of that poison left in either of us!"

Suddenly, Disgust doubled over in pain as the curse of the werewolf once again wracked her body. Her breathing became labored as she dropped to the floor and began to convulse spasmodically, emitting a few throaty growls as she tried to fight the urge to slip under the Beast's control again.

While this was going on, she didn't notice the sound of muffled sobbing coming from the bottom of the ramp that connected the main room to the Emotions private sleeping quarters.

Sadness watched the horrible scene playing out before her in utter desolation. She had decided that she would do everything in her power to help Riley and Disgust. But after having witnessed the true horror of their affliction, the little blue Emotion didn't know how she was going to be able to save them!

 _Oh Disgust! You sacrificed yourself to save Riley_! Sadness felt her heart breaking as she watched her green friend thrashing around on the floor in agony with a feeling of hopelessness.

 _But who's going to save you?_

After a few minutes, Sadness drew in a deep breath and made a silent vow. _I don't' know how yet, but I promise that I won't rest until I've found a way to help you Disgust…_

Steeling her nerves, the blue Emotion stepped into the room and approached her stricken colleague with nothing but pureness in her heart.

XXX

Meanwhile in the Andersen's lounge room, Bill finally apologized to his guests for his disrespectful attitude. The two ladies were just trying to help his daughter, and he had been acting offensive and obnoxious towards them all night!

He still didn't want to believe what they had told him about Riley being attacked by a werewolf. But ever since Luminita had forced him to hold those strange beads in his hand, which she'd said belonged to the Beast that attacked his daughter, he could no longer deny the possibility of their claims being true. He wasn't one to openly believe in the supernatural, but there was no doubt in his mind that those beads radiated with a mysterious power. When he had held them, Bill felt overwhelmed with an immense emotional pain, and the sorrow and longing they stirred within him was so strong, that he truly felt like his heart was going to explode from grief!

Now, he looked into Luminita's eyes imploringly and ventured in a small voice, "Those beads…do you know what they are?"

"Ah, so you admit that you felt something, didn't you?" Lumi pressed calmly, a sly grin appearing on her lips as she regarded her critical host.

Bill nodded silently and averted his gaze to the floor uncomfortably.

Lumi took a deep breath and began speaking in a serious tone. "Before I start explaining about the beads, there is something more you need to know…"

She looked over to her grandmother, who was still holding Riley in her arms and asked her something in Romanian. Alina never took her eyes off Riley's semiconscious face as she offered her granddaughter a lengthy response.

Bill and Jill exchanged anxious looks as they waited for Luminita to translate for them. Lumi listened in earnest silence as her grandmother finished speaking. Then she turned to face her nervous hosts and began translating grimly.

"I am sure you are both aware that last night was Halloween. Usually my grandmother and I don't celebrate it because that is the busiest time of the year for Alina! As I told you before, she was born with many special abilities and one of those gifts is that she can communicate with spirits! She is like a messenger between the living and the dead!"

Jill grabbed her husband's hand tightly, her eyes wide with fright as she listened to Lumi's harrowing explanation. Bill gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and nodded towards the young nurse to continue speaking.

Lumi's expression softened a little as she went on. "In some cultures, my grandmother would be referred to as a _medium._ Halloween is the one night of the year when spirits walk freely amongst us! While my grandmother was holding these beads, she reached out to the spirit world and asked who they belonged to and if anyone had a message to give her."

Her voice took on a grave note as she looked at Riley's parents and stated, "Mr. and Mrs. Andersen, there was indeed a message for you!"

Bill and Jill both went pale in the face, as if they had just seen a ghost!

Lumi gave them a reassuring smile and continued softly. "It turns out that these beads were once part of a necklace that belonged to the Beast's mother. Before his grandmother left him at his father's doorstep, she placed that necklace around the child's neck. She wanted him to have something that belonged to his mother so that he wouldn't forget about her, as she knew in her heart that had his mother survived giving birth to him, she would have loved him more than anything in this world."

Lumi sighed sadly and explained, "Throughout his whole life, the Beast was inseparable from that necklace and he never took it off. But while he was attacking Riley, she must have grabbed onto it during the struggle and it broke, scattering the individual beads all over the place. A few of them even got caught in her clothing and that was how we ended up with these particular fragments."

She pointed to the beads on the table, her voice full of regret as she concluded, "The Beast's mother was the one who contacted my grandmother from the spirit world. She is deeply saddened by the atrocity her son inflicted on your daughter. She knows that the darkness in which he has lived in everyday of his life, has given him an emptiness of soul. She told Alina that it is time for him to leave this world go to her, because his violence and cruelty will most certainly get worse over time."

As Luminita finished talking, Riley began to stir in Alina's arms. Her eyes shot open and she went red in the face. Bill and Jill stared at their daughter in alarm as she started groaning and sweating profusely.

Lumi's eyes widened in revelation as she recognized what was happening and she informed Riley's terrified parents to bring her a biscuit canister or some other kind of small metallic box.

"It has begun! Quick! I need a small metal container!" She instructed compellingly. She reached into her bag and handed something to Jill, who was looking very confused and distressed by Riley's sudden violent reaction.

She glanced down into her hand and noticed that Luminita had given her some sort of teabag.

"What…?" Jill started to ask, but Luminita interrupted her.

Her voice was full of urgency as she repeated, "Hurry Mrs. Andersen! We need a biscuit canister or something similar before Riley starts throwing up! And after that, I need you to make some tea with the teabag I have given you!"

Still confused but willing to do anything to help her little girl, Jill dashed into the kitchen to do as Lumi had instructed.

Bill raised his eyebrow questioningly at the two women as he watched them fussing over Riley. "What's the tea for? You already gave her something to drink before…"

Lumi looked up at him patiently and explained, "Don't worry Mr. Andersen! The teabag I just gave to your wife is ordinary chamomile tea to calm Riley down. As for the drink we gave her before, that is going to help flush out the poison from her body!"

By now Riley was looking helpless and violently ill as she started to retch convulsively.

Jill returned with a small metal biscuit container just in time. She handed it to Alina with trembling hands as she and Bill watched with trepidation while the old healer held the container under Riley's chin.

Riley heaved and lurched forward. With a final violent retch, she began throwing up into the container, unleashing bile as well as a sinister black, foul-smelling substance as her parents looked on in shocked silence.

After a full minute had passed, Riley collapsed backwards into Alina's arms weakly as the old healer handed her granddaughter the container, who closed the lid firmly and made the sign of the cross over her heart in a gesture to ward off evil.

Alina smiled down at Riley fondly and as her stunned parents stared at the old lady in disbelief, she spoke in English for the first time tonight. "It is okay now little one. You be yourself again. No more curse inside you."

Riley stared into Alina's eyes with trust, the corner of her mouth twitching as she formed a weak smile. Then she nestled into the old healer's arms once more and drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Lumi had a huge smile of relief on her face as she turned her attention to Bill and informed him willfully, "Now Mr. Andersen. I am happy to inform you that Riley's body has been successfully cleansed from the poison of the werewolf's curse! But in order to completely heal your daughter, you need to do something very important."

Bill swallowed nervously and shot his wife an uncertain look. Jill's eyes were full of encouragement as she nodded at Lumi and her grandmother, then back to him. "You can do it honey…our little girl needs you."

Bill gave her a brave smile before turning his attention back to Luminita. "Of course! I'll do whatever it takes to get my happy girl back!"

Lumi nodded in understanding, a proud smile appearing on her face as she said calmly, "Good! Now you must listen and follow my grandmother's instructions fully…"

XXX

Back inside Riley's Headquarters, Disgust had been watching the drama unfolding in the lounge room trough the monitor. She was shocked and revolted by what she saw coming out of Riley's mouth when the poor girl had started throwing up, and to her utter despair she realized that she was beginning to feel just as nauseous.

Disgust doubled over and clutched her stomach as the familiar taste of bile began working its way up her esophagus. She was all too aware of what was coming next and she knew that she was powerless to stop it.

Disgust started to retch violently just as Sadness came up behind her. Her gentle blue eyes were filled with tears of empathy as she offered softly, "Oh Disgust! Tell me what I can do to help you…"

Disgust whipped around and glared at her blue co-worker savagely. She emitted a low growl of warning before snapping in a demonic-sounding voice, **"YOU?! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY HELP ME, YOU MISERABLE LITTLE CREATURE?! I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!"**

Sadness gasped and stepped back instinctively at the harshness in her friend's voice. But she knew deep down that this wasn't really Disgust yelling at her…it was the voice of the Beast. He was speaking _through_ Disgust, directing his own hate and torment at Sadness because she was trying to undo the evil he had unleashed on this family.

Sadness fought back a desperate sob as she took a deep breath and wailed, "I don't know…but I have to try!"

She took a defiant step towards her green co-worker and countered, "He's afraid of you Disgust! He knows that you can beat him…that YOU are the only thing that stopped him from taking over Riley completely!"

Disgust gave a vicious snarl and was just about to lunge at Sadness, when both Emotions were startled by a loud chattering sound coming from the kitchen doorway.

As they stared in confusion in the direction of the noise, Sadness made out a very distinctive, trembling skinny silhouette on the wall. As she looked more closely, Sadness realized that the source of the loud chattering turned out to be the sound of teeth knocking together as Fear huddled in the corner in absolute terror.

The purple Emotion must have witnessed the whole terrifying confrontation between Disgust and Sadness, because aside from his chattering teeth, he kept repeating in a small panicky voice, "Oh boy! Oh boy! Beast! Evil! Biscuit canister…!"

Sadness gave a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank heavens! Fear I need your help!" She called out encouragingly as Fear's long purple nose appeared from behind the door, followed cautiously by the rest of his head as he took a nervous peek into the room.

"Wha-what…do…you need…me…for…?" He whimpered shrilly, his gray eyes looking enormous with panic as he stared at Sadness.

The blue Emotion fixed him with a determined gaze as she instructed calmly, "I need you to bring me one of your metal tea containers."

Fear's head disappeared back into the kitchen instantly. A loud ruckus ensued from within the room and seconds later, an empty metal canister slid across the floor and came to a stop at Sadness' feet.

"There! I'm not coming any closer!" Fear announced from the kitchen shakily. "You can call me a coward all you want! I'm staying here out of harm's way!"

Sadness shrugged and picked up the small metal canister. "That's alright Fear. You can make some chamomile tea for Disgust…I saw them doing that for Riley!"

She turned her attention back to Disgust, who had slumped to the floor and was looking desperately ill again as she battled with her nausea.

"Actually…make some for all three of us if you don't mind!" Sadness added over her shoulder as she approached her green co-worker purposefully with the canister.

Sadness knelt down in front of Disgust, who had started to retch violently and held the canister under her chin. "It's okay Disgust…you need to let everything out just like Riley did!"

Despite her retching and heaving, Sadness thought she saw the briefest of smiles appear on her friend's face before Disgust snatched up the canister and proceeded to vomit the same black tarry substance that came out of Riley.

Throughout the whole awful ordeal, Sadness stayed by Disgust's side, stroking her hand gently as she whispered, "Don't worry Disgust. I promise that you will be beautiful again once all of this is over…"

As soon as Disgust finished throwing up into the container, Sadness took it from her and sealed the lid as tightly as she could. Then she placed it to the side and completely disregarding her own safety, she reached out and wrapped her green co-worker in a warm hug, tears beginning to stream down her face as a combination of relief and sorrow for her friend's suffering finally overwhelmed her.

Disgust's expression was blank the whole time that Sadness hugged her, as if ridding herself of the werewolf's curse had left a hollowness inside her. She was no longer the Beast's puppet. But during the whole time he had taken possession of her, her soul had been pushed aside as his evil power spread through her body like a cancer. Now that the cancer was removed, it would take a while for her spirit to seep back into the void it had left in her body…

After a few minutes of heart wrenching sobbing, Sadness pulled away and looked into Disgust's absent eyes searchingly. Her face was still haggard and her hair streaked with gray, her once vibrant green skin still a sickly shade of greenish-gray.

Sadness felt a fresh wave of grief coming over her as she prayed with all her heart that Disgust would be restored to her previous beauty. She missed her sassy attitude and the way she obsessed over her image. Most of all, she missed her fun-loving friend that was never afraid to give anyone a piece of her mind…

Unable to hold back her sorrow, Sadness cried deeply once more. As she allowed her tears to fall freely onto Disgust's face and arms, she didn't notice the color slowly seeping back into her friend's skin. Wherever Sadness' tears made contact with Disgust's skin, a healthy green hue spread over the gray! Even the gray streaks in her hair were replaced with shiny green strands as Sadness' tears cleansed and restored Disgust to her natural green complexion.

Gradually, Disgust's bloodshot eyes cleared up and her irises returned to their former emerald-green shade as she looked over at her sobbing friend and offered her the faintest of smiles.

In the meantime, Fear had ventured cautiously out of the kitchen carrying a serving tray with three cups of chamomile tea steaming on top. The purple Emotion stared at the incredible sight of Sadness healing Disgust with her tears in wonder.

Fear cleared his throat gently and Sadness wiped her eyes and looked up at him. The purple Emotion nodded towards Disgust with a smile and Sadness turned around and noticed her friend's shining green radiance for the first time.

Disgust smiled back gratefully at her blue co-worker and whispered croakily, "We did it Sadness…we beat the curse together…"

Sadness sniffled and nodded in relief. "I told you I wouldn't give up on you Disgust."

Fear cleared his throat again to get their attentions. He shot a nervous glance at the metal canister containing the evil black substance and stammered, "So…what do we do now…?"

Sadness got to her feet with a grunt. She took Disgust by the hand and pulled her to her feet gently, but her green co-worker was still too weak to stand on her own properly and she had to lean against Sadness for support.

"Now we will drink our tea while we wait and see what Riley's dad is going to do next…" Sadness replied solemnly.


	6. Dawn of New Hope

**Chapter 6 – Dawn of New Hope**

Bill was staring intently at Lumi and Alina. There was an expression of utter fear on his face and his hands were trembling as he struggled with the emotional turmoil he felt inside. He searched Alina's patient old face with pleading eyes, the urge to save his daughter stronger than anything he had ever experienced before.

"I'll do anything to help my little girl…" He whispered in a small shaky voice.

His eyes filled with tears as he watched Riley sleeping in Alina's arms. She looked so peaceful now that the _"_ _poison"_ as Lumi had called it, was out of her system. The metal canister containing the vile black substance that Riley had thrown up, was sitting on the table in front of them.

Bill eyed the canister with resentment. He wanted that evil thing out of his house and as far away from his family as possible!

All of a sudden, the hatred he felt towards the monster that hurt his little girl was replaced by an overwhelming feeling of guilt and despair. Ever since that awful day in the woods, Bill had been blaming himself for what happened to his daughter. If he hadn't decided to take his family to those woods, then none of this would have happened! Bill felt that he was solely responsible for putting Riley in danger and he hated himself for it.

Unable to hold back his tears any longer, Bill buried his face in his hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. His whole body shook as he drew in long shuddering breaths, all the pain and regret he had been keeping inside ever since Riley's attack, now evident for everyone in the room to see.

"Oh God! This is all my fault!" He cried brokenheartedly.

Lumi and Alina were both watching him sadly.

He felt Jill's reassuring hand rubbing his back gently and he allowed himself to draw comfort from her.

"Bill honey…" His wife whispered in a soft soothing voice. "Stop blaming yourself. It was nobody's fault!"

Jill took a deep breath and fought back tears of her own. "I guess we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time that's all…" She uttered unconvincingly.

Lumi gave Jill a sad smile and nodded compassionately. "Your wife is right Mr. Andersen."

She regarded both of Riley's parents with a kind expression. "Does anyone else besides us and Dr. Mikkelsen know about what happened to Riley?" She asked gently.

Bill lifted his face from his hands slowly. "Definitely not! Who would believe us anyway!"

He shook his head and chuckled humorlessly. "I mean if someone told _me_ a story like that, I would consider them crazy!"

He gave a despondent sigh and muttered more to himself than the others, "I'm still struggling to believe it myself…"

Lumi sighed sympathetically. "Well you know what they say, you wouldn't believe it unless it happens to you."

Jill nodded solemnly and began explaining to her guests how she and Bill had chosen to keep Riley home from school since leaving the hospital. "We've been keeping Riley at home ever since the incident. I personally talked to her school principal and told him that Riley has come down with a very bad case of the tummy flu. I told him that because she hasn't been able to eat much for a few days now, she's become very weak and we thought it best to keep her at home until she recovers."

Jill looked down and insisted, "He and all of Riley's teachers were very understanding and no one questioned our decision to keep her home for as long as we need to."

Lumi had a relieved look on her face after hearing Jill's explanation. "That's good then. She hasn't been left unattended around other people since the attack, so it's safe to say that she hasn't passed the curse onto anyone else by accident."

She glanced over at Riley's sleeping form. "My grandmother and I have decided that once all of this is over, it would be best that Riley doesn't remember anything about the incident."

She looked at Riley's parents with a dire expression. "And I mean _anything!_ Not only the pain and suffering she experienced while she was under the werewolf's curse, but also all the events leading up to the attack."

Bill was staring at the young nurse in awe. "That would be the greatest blessing…"

Then his expression changed to a look of hopelessness. "But how can we possibly do that? It's not like we can just erase the whole memory of what happened in Muir Woods from her mind…" He sighed desolately.

Lumi offered him a promising smile and declared, "Ah, but it might not be as impossible as it sounds Mr. Andersen!"

She glanced at Alina, her brown eyes full of hope as she explained eagerly, "My grandmother can hypnotize Riley. Then hopefully her guardian angel or the same force that helped her before, can somehow erase that memory from her mind!"

She turned her attention back to Riley's bewildered parents and informed them reassuringly, "I know it's a long shot. But if this whole experience has taught us anything, it's that sometimes you have to open your mind and believe in the impossible!"

After a moment's hesitation, both of Riley's parents nodded in agreement. Lumi was right! If they could face the fact that their daughter was attacked by a creature that was supposed to be no more than a myth, then who's to say what else isn't possible?!

Jill looked at Lumi with determination. "Okay. So what do we do now?"

Lumi glanced at the metal canister on the table and explained, "That black stuff that Riley threw up is the physical manifestation of the Werewolf's power – the poison that was placed in her body the moment he attacked her and passed on his curse."

She looked up at Riley's parents and assured them calmly, "Through the special herbal tea we gave her upon our arrival tonight, we were able to assist Riley in cleansing her body of this evil energy!"

She tapped the lid of the metal canister and confirmed, "All of it is now inside this container and the next step is to return it to the place it came from…"

Lumi paused and turned her gaze to Bill, her voice full of encouragement as she instructed, "This is where _you_ come in Mr. Andersen! My grandmother will hypnotize Riley now and she will fall into a deep sleep. Once under, she will remain asleep until you have returned the curse to its source and only then will she be cured completely."

Bill swallowed nervously as he learned what was required of him. He was terrified of the prospect of returning to the site of the attack with the evil thing in the container. But he also knew that he had no choice…Riley needed him to do this and he wasn't about to let his Fear stop him from doing what needed to be done!

"Okay. Let's do this." He said bravely, a look of steely determination on his face.

Lumi nodded and grabbed a hold of her grandmother's hand as she said something to her in Romanian.

Then she looked back at Riley's parents and informed them seriously, "Now we all need to pray to whatever force or higher power we each believe in…"

Bill looked down and mumbled under his breath, "Oh don't you worry. I am going to pray to God harder than I ever had in my life!"

Alina glanced hopefully at Jill before turning back to her granddaughter and asking her something in Romanian.

Lumi smiled kindly at Jill and translated, "My grandmother wishes to know who you will be praying to Mrs. Andersen?"

Jill never took her eyes off Alina as she answered willfully, "I will be praying to the Beast's mother; for help in getting my daughter back and also for her to help her son."

Alina smiled and nodded in approval.

Riley had been watching and listening to everything that was going on and being said about her semiconsciously.

Now, Alina looked down at her with kindness and reassurance in her old eyes. She stroked her hair gently and began chanting something in Romanian. She held a finger in front of Riley's half-open eyes and waved it slowly back and forth. Riley followed the movement with her eyes obediently.

After a few seconds, Alina's chanting started to fade into the background as Riley slipped further and further under her hypnotic spell until finally, she gave a deep sigh and lost consciousness.

Riley's body went limp in the old healer's arms as she fell into a deep sleep. Her parents were looking on worriedly, the sight of their little girl lying so helpless in a stranger's arms filling their hearts with trepidation. But their minds were put at ease as soon as they saw the serene expression on their sleeping daughter's face. Neither of them could remember the last time they saw Riley looking this peaceful and content!

The longer they watched Alina gently cradling Riley as though she were her own child, Bill and Jill became increasingly reassured that their girl was in good hands…

Suddenly, Lumi cleared her throat and Riley's parents tore their gazes away from their sleeping daughter as waited to hear what the next course of action would be.

The nurse smiled and addressed Bill with a calm and measured disposition. "Okay now Mr. Andersen. It is almost dawn and that means you must hurry back to Muir Woods and carry out these crucial instructions before anyone sees what you are doing."

She took the metal container from the table and held it out to Bill. He hesitated before taking it from her with trembling hands as she explained, "You need to take this back to the site of Riley's attack. If you cannot remember the exact location, then try to find the closest place where you first saw the werewolf appear and bury this container."

Bill swallowed and nodded without saying a word. He was too terrified of the evil thing inside the metal canister as well as the thought of seeing that ferocious creature again! But he had to control his Fear and do this for Riley…

Lumi reached into her handbag and pulled out some dried leaves that had a strong minty aroma. She offered them to Bill and instructed, "If you can, try and find some of those red Wolf's Blood flowers that grew near the place where Riley encountered the werewolf and place them on top of the mound after you've buried the container. They will help draw the Beast out of hiding and lure him to that spot. If you can't find any Wolf's Blood flowers nearby, then put some of these sage leaves on the mound instead."

Bill accepted the sage leaves without questioning Lumi's instructions. Then both he and Jill watched in shocked disbelief as the young nurse reached back into her handbag and produced what they recognized instantly to be Riley's ripped and bloodied shirt from that fateful day!

"Is that…?" Jill uttered in horror. Tears began rolling down her cheeks as the sight of that shirt brought back painful memories of her little girl screaming in agony in the back of the car as they drove her to the hospital after the werewolf mauled her.

Lumi nodded and took the strange beads that had belonged to the Beast's mother from Alina's hand and carefully wrapped them in the tattered remains of Riley's shirt.

Then she gave Riley's distraught parents a compassionate look and explained soberly, "We need to return the Beast's curse back to the darkness from where it came. That is why you must bury the container representing his evil power as close to the place where you first encountered him."

She held up the shirt with the beads wrapped inside and insisted, "As soon as the Beast senses the power emitted from these beads, he will come and try to reclaim them as they were once his most valuable possession. As he is doing this, he will see Riley's shirt. That should hopefully serve as a reminder of what he did to her and make him realize that he went too far this time by attacking an innocent little girl!"

Lumi glanced thoughtfully at her grandmother, who whispered something to her. Then she took a deep breath and translated for her disconsolate hosts, "Prior to the incident with Riley, this particular Beast hasn't attacked anyone in a very long time…he was by then very old and badly injured, possibly from an encounter with a hunter who mistook him for an unusually large rogue wolf and shot him before he could escape. Or maybe he wandered into the territory of a neighboring pack of wolves and they saw him as an intruder and attacked him…"

She sighed sadly and shrugged. "We can't say for sure. But whatever the cause of his injury might be, my grandmother and I both agree that this old Beast was probably doing his best to avoid coming into contact with _anyone_ and the attack on Riley was most likely not planned. He was in pain and frustrated and when he came across Riley picking those Wolf's Blood flowers that could potentially heal him, it sent him into a fit of rage! Blinded by fury, he made the decision to vent all his torment and suffering onto her."

Lumi paused and gave Riley's parents a hopeful smile. "But Alina says that the Beast's mother has agreed to help us so that we may not only cure Riley, but end her tortured son's suffering once and for all."

She handed the shirt and beads to Bill and finished giving him his instructions. "So Mr. Andersen, once you have buried the container, put Riley's shirt with the beads on top of it and cover everything with a small amount of soil or grass. After you have done that, take cover and listen out for the song of the American Robin. Apparently, this is the Beast's mother's spirit animal and it will signal that her presence is nearby!"

Bill raised an eyebrow questioningly at this request. "And how am I supposed to know exactly what this bird sounds like? I'm not an ornithologist!"

Jill shot a disapproving look at her husband. But before she could scold him for his sarcastic comment, Lumi broke in with a dry chuckle. "If that's the case, then google it! It is a small gray songbird with a bright orange breast and its song is a simple whistle repeated many times over."

Suddenly her expression turned very serious. She leaned forward and warned solemnly, "When you hear the robin's song, leave! Whatever you do, don't look back…just come straight home!"

Lumi gazed searchingly into Bill's fearful eyes and stressed, "If you follow these instructions to the letter, then Riley will be fully healed."

She looked down and gave a sad sigh. "And hopefully the beast's tortured soul will also be set free and he can finally find peace and acceptance alongside his mother…"

After a few moments of tense silence, Bill reached across the table and touched Lumi's hand in a gesture of commitment. The nurse looked up in surprise and noticed that a brave smile had replaced the nervous expression that had dominated Bill's face up to this point.

Even Jill was looking at him with undisguised astonishment...and more than a little bit of pride in her husband's newfound courage!

Bill's voice was full of determination as he declared, "I promise I'll do whatever it takes to make this right!"

XXX

Back inside Headquarters, Sadness and Fear were doing their best to try to comfort Disgust as she slowly recovered from the traumatic ordeal of ridding her body of the werewolf's curse. Her skin was now fully restored to its former green color and the gray streaks had all but disappeared from her hair thanks to the surprising healing effects of Sadness' tears. She looked a little lackluster without her makeup on and she didn't exactly smell like a bed of roses, but at least she was freed from the Beast's curse!

Now the long journey to full recovery could begin for both her _and_ Riley…

As the three Emotions sat together on the sofa, Sadness gently stroked Disgust's messy hair while Fear held her hand. He didn't know what had come over him all of a sudden! After seeing how brave and determined Sadness had been in order to save Disgust, Fear felt strongly compelled to help too!

They had all been listening intently to Lumi's instructions and even after Riley had been hypnotized by Alina, Sadness had made sure that the intercom was switched on so they could still hear what was being said after Riley lost consciousness.

After a few minutes, Sadness turned and regarded Disgust with her caring blue eyes. "You just sit here and rest for a while Disgust. Fear and I have something very important to do now…"

She glanced over at the purple Emotion and pointed to the metal tea container that Disgust had vomited into earlier. Then taking a deep breath, Sadness said with as much conviction as she could muster, "Fear, we are taking that canister to the Memory Dump right now!"

Fear began to hyperventilate, his eyes wide with panic as he stuttered, "Ah…sh-shouldn't we wake up J-Joy and Anger first?!"

He gave Sadness a desperate look. "You know I'm not the bravest Emotion around here…actually I'm downright cowardly if I may say so!"

Sadness' eyes never lost their determined look as she offered her terrified co-worker an encouraging half-smile. "Oh Fear! Did you see the look on Bill's face when Lumi was telling him what he needs to do? He was just as scared as you! But he knows that he needs to try to be brave for Riley and so do we!"

Fear looked like he was ready to pass out from fright. But he knew deep in his heart that Sadness was right. He has to try to control his instinctive urge to scream and run away in order to not only help Disgust, but also to save Riley! As a Fear Emotion, his duty keep his host safe from danger and protect her no matter what!

He gave Sadness a nervous smile and nodded. "Well…I suppose that we started this together…so we need to finish it right…?" He whimpered insecurely.

Sadness nodded and smiled appreciatively at his willingness to help. Then her blue eyes widened in revelation and she shoved the small metal canister into Fear's trembling hands. "Take this and wait for me by the Recall Tube…I'll be right back!"

Before Fear could protest, Sadness ran over to the Short Term Memory shelves and retrieved the dark purple memory orb showing Riley's encounter with the werewolf. Because of all the chaos following the attack, this particular memory as well as a collection of others created on the day the Andersen family went to Muir Woods, was never sent down to Long Term like they normally would at the end of the day. All the Emotions were so busy worrying about Riley and Disgust, that no one had even noticed those memories were still sitting on the Short Term shelves this whole time!

With the memory orb of the werewolf tucked under her arm, Sadness rejoined Fear by the Recall Tube. She showed it to him and explained, "We need to take this to the Memory Dump along with the canister. Riley needs to forget what this creature looked like so she can be totally free from the curse!"

Fear took one look at the visage of the snarling Beast in the orb and shrieked in horror. Then he gave a helpless groan as his eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted right at Sadness' feet.

From over at the sofa, Disgust's shell-shocked voice drifted over to Sadness as she tried to figure out how to revive Fear without freaking him out even more.

"Sure, Riley might be able to forget what that monster looked like over time...but _I_ will never forget those haunting yellow eyes for as long as I live…"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **I know this chapter was largely focused on explaining what needs to be done in order to banish the curse forever. But in the next chapter we're going back to Muir Woods where we'll finally discover what the Beast's fate will be…**

 **I would like to thank Orangebird124, Tripledent and Karebear49 for your wonderful reviews to the previous chapter as well as everyone else who is reading and enjoying the story so far :)**

 **There are still a few more chapters left before the end of this story and I hope you all decide to stick around to see what will happen next!**

 **But before that, I'd like to turn my attention back to "Merry Emotional Christmas" since Christmas is only a week away and I'm hoping to get at least one more chapter of it up before then…**

 **Thanks again for reading and I promise to update as soon as I can :)**

 **Svinorita**


	7. Return to Muir Woods

**Chapter 7 – Return to Muir Woods.**

A few stars were still visible in the pre-dawn sky when Bill Andersen left home on his journey to Muir Woods.

Just as he was leaving the city lights in his rearview mirror, he pulled over on a deserted stretch of road and went over Lumi's instructions mentally one last time. He still couldn't believe what he was about to do and he needed a moment to steel his nerves before entering the eerily silent National Park to face that nightmarish creature alone.

Bill wasn't an overly religious person, but right now he needed all the faith and blessings he could get. He gripped the steering wheel tightly with one hand as he closed his eyes and crossed himself with the other.

He drew in a deep breath and muttered, "I can do this! I _need_ to do this for my daughter and for my family!"

Then he opened his eyes and looked at the metal canister containing the Werewolf's curse on the front passenger seat. Bill furrowed his brow in determination and vowed, "I will make it right and everything will return back to normal!"

With a sense of renewed courage, Bill turned on the radio as he pulled out onto the road again and resumed driving towards his destination. Ironically, the song that started playing over the car's speakers was Michael Jackson's _"Thriller"._

Bill groaned in annoyance as he reached over to turn the radio off, but stopped himself suddenly. He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to leave it on and listen to the lyrics…

XXX

Meanwhile inside Riley's Headquarters…

Fear had come around from his fainting spell and was now pacing in front of the Recall Tube nervously. He eyed the canister and the sinister purple Memory orb in Sadness' arms fretfully. The blue Emotion was speaking to him in a gentle and reassuring voice as she tried to convince him that she needed his help with disposing of those evil things in the Memory Dump.

While the two Emotions were deep in conversation, Disgust had gotten up from the sofa with a great effort. She was still a little pale and weak, but already some of her former spark had begun to resurface…

She walked over to her two companions slowly and called their names softly. Fear and Sadness looked up at their green co-worker with a mixture of relief and surprise as she enveloped them both in a grateful hug.

"Thank you guys!" She whispered in a tired voice. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't decided to help see me through this!"

Fear scrunched up his nose as a foul odor wafted up from his green co-worker.

He turned his head to the side and confessed, "Well normally I wouldn't have volunteered for something like this…"

He gagged involuntarily and covered his nose with one hand. "But Sadness can be very persuasive when she wants to be."

Disgust screwed up her own face as she seemed to notice the foul smell hanging around her for the first time. "Darn! It smells like something died in here! Where is that stench coming from…?"

The green Emotion released her two colleagues from her embrace and tried to trace the stink to its source. Finally she smelled her own arm and pulled a face of utter repulsion.

"Argh! It's coming from ME! I smell like that monstrous wild pig, Hogzilla!"

Disgust glanced down at her legs and saw some bristly green hair growing on her once smooth and supple skin. "I even look like a wild hog!" She screeched in outrage.

Sadness touched her friend's arm lightly and whispered, "Don't be so hard on yourself Disgust. You've been through so much…"

She gave a desolate sigh and looked down sadly. "I don't know if I would have survived going through something like this if it had happened to me."

Disgust flashed a small smile of admiration at her blue co-worker. "Thanks for your support Sadness. I never would have made it without you helping me!"

Sadness nodded shyly. Then she turned her attention back to the metal canister and Memory orb that she had placed on the floor beside the Recall Tube.

She glanced up at Fear and instructed, "We need to take the curse to the Dump and banish that memory from Riley's mind right now Fear."

Fear gazed in the direction of the Emotions' sleeping quarters longingly. "I really think we should wake up Joy and Anger first…"

Disgust's eyes widened in horror. "No! Please don't!" She pleaded desperately. "Give me some time to get at least half-decent before the others see me!"

Before either Sadness or Fear could protest, the green Emotion started making her way towards the bathroom purposefully.

"I need to wash, wax and scrub every last trace of this evil residue from myself…" She called over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall and out of view.

Sadness looked back at Fear with desperation. "Come on Fear, I need your help with this. You heard what Lumi said?"

She pointed to the Memory orb and reminded him, "We need to get rid of Riley's memory of the Werewolf so she can forget all of this and recover properly."

After a few moments, Fear gave a resigned sigh and nodded reluctantly. "You're right…"

He glanced back towards the sleeping quarters and offered hopefully, "But I still think we should get Anger to help with this…"

Sadness was nearing the limits of her patience as she grabbed Fear by the arms and shook him in exasperation. "There's no time! We have to do this NOW Fear! Riley is counting on us!" She expressed, her voice rising with urgency.

Fear looked shocked by his blue co-worker's unexpected show of force. "Okay! Fine! I'll go with you!" He relented as Sadness let go of his arms and proceeded to pick up the Memory orb and canister.

Fear rubbed his arms gingerly and muttered something under his breath as he hurried to his room to get his flashlight. It was still dark out in the Mind World and there was no way he was about to step outside without a good, reliable source of light!

Sadness waited anxiously by the Recall Tube for her purple co-worker to return. Within a few minutes, he came back carrying a flashlight as well as a huge umbrella with a pointy tip. She raised her eyebrow at him quizzically as he stopped in front of her with a proud smile on his face.

"Okay! I feel a little more prepared now!" He said with a note of confidence.

Sadness glanced down and noticed that in addition to the flashlight and umbrella, Fear had swapped his usual black shoes for a pair of comfortable-looking sneakers.

He saw the bewildered expression on his blue companion's face and gave a sheepish chuckle. "Well I decided to wear my best running shoes just in case I need to make a quick getaway…"

Sadness shrugged dismissively. Then holding the canister and Memory orb tightly, she stepped into the Recall Tube and allowed the suction to draw her up and out of Headquarters.

Fear hesitated. He carefully checked to make sure the laces on his shoes were done up properly, before following his blue co-worker into the Tube reluctantly.

XXX

In the meantime, Bill had arrived at the Muir Woods National Monument. The first light of dawn was just beginning to appear above the treetops as he stepped out of the car and started walking down the trail towards the site of Riley's attack. Just as Lumi had predicted, there were no visitors around at this early hour and Bill felt utterly alone and vulnerable as he traversed the overgrown trail with the metal canister in hand and a backpack slung over his shoulder containing the sage leaves, Riley's ripped shirt and the Werewolf's beads.

His heart was pounding with fright as he heard eerie animal calls coming from the brush all around him. Bill wondered if the Beast was watching him right now, tracking his every move as he pushed deeper and deeper into heart of the woods. What if it decided to attack him before he could carry out Lumi's instructions? He had no means of defending himself and there was no one around to come to his rescue if that creature decided to attack him the way it had done to his daughter…

Bill shook his head and tried to push these unsettling thoughts away. He walked on with determination as he told himself to man up and face his fears!

After what seemed like ages, Bill noted that his surroundings were starting to look familiar. Then a few seconds later, he knew without a doubt that he had arrived at the right place.

Apparently no one, not even park rangers patrol this part of the woods as he soon discovered the discarded metal coffee mugs that he and his wife had used to scare the creature away still lying undisturbed on the forest floor.

Bill walked up to the base of a huge tree and glanced around nervously. The woods were strangely silent around here and this filled him with a sense of dread. He couldn't shake the feeling that the Beast _knew_ he was here and it was watching him from the dense brush somewhere, biding its time and waiting for the right moment to leap out at him from the shadows.

After taking a deep breath to settle his nerves, Bill knelt down and took out a small camping shovel from his backpack. Then he started to dig a hole at the base of the tree trunk, pausing every few minutes to scan his surroundings fearfully.

Finally, when he felt satisfied that the hole was deep enough, he put the metal canister inside and laid Riley's shirt on top of it. The beads were wrapped securely within the ripped fabric just as Lumi had instructed.

While he was doing this, Bill started to cry as flashbacks of that awful day replayed in his mind.

"Don't worry Riley. Daddy's going to make it all better…" he whispered somberly as he began covering the hole with soil and leaves.

Once he was finished, Bill looked around and saw some of those red Wolf's Blood flowers growing nearby. He stood up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before picking a few of the flowers and placing them on top of the mound. Then just for good measure, he took out the sage leaves that Lumi had given him from his backpack and put those on the mound as well.

Bill stepped back and admired his work briefly before looking around for a good hiding place. He found a big tree nearby that seemed to provide ample cover whilst still giving him a good view of the spot where he had buried the items. By now, he could see the sun rising on the distant horizon, but the dense canopy of the trees in this part of the woods made it difficult for much light to filter down to the forest floor.

So far he had been lucky. The Beast, if it was nearby, hadn't made any attempt to attack him. But a part of Bill couldn't help worrying about its failure to show itself. What if the Werewolf had moved on from these parts following the attack on Riley? Does that mean Riley would never be cured…?

 _No! It will show up! Lumi had said the Beast would come back to reclaim his precious beads and that he had likely stayed close to the site where he lost them._

Bill sighed listlessly as he listened out for the song of the American robin. He had heeded Lumi's advice and looked it up on the internet so he now knew exactly what to listen out for. She had told him that when he heard the robin, it meant that the spirit of the Beast's mother would be nearby and she would help free her son from his tormented existence once and for all.

About half an hour later, Bill heard the distinct sound of something big crashing through the undergrowth. His heart began to pound with anticipation as he listened to the sounds getting closer and closer. He could make out the sound of snarling and heavy breathing as the thing came to a stop a few yards away.

Bill swallowed nervously, sweat dripping down his back as he slowly peeked out from behind the tree. His heart nearly leapt into his throat when he saw the huge black wolf standing under the tree, sniffing the mound of dirt where he had buried the canister and beads. Bill was mesmerized by the Beast as it uttered a low growl before resuming its inspection of that spot suspiciously.

But there was something different about the creature. Bill couldn't help noticing that although it was big by wolf standards, it appeared to be much thinner than the last time he saw it, and as he watched it standing there, he noticed that it was swaying a little unsteadily on its feet.

Suddenly the Beast turned so its right side was facing Bill and he saw the large gaping wound directly behind its foreleg where its shoulder connected to its chest. The black fur was all matted with dried blood there and an overpowering stench came from the wound, an unmistakable sign that it was badly infected.

As Bill looked on in wonder, he saw that the Beast always held its right foreleg slightly off the ground whenever it moved as though it caused him great pain to put any pressure on that side. The Werewolf stopped sniffing the mound and gave a whine of distress as it looked back at the wound on its side and raised its foreleg even higher off the ground.

It was clearly in a lot of pain and despite all the suffering it had inflicted upon his family, Bill couldn't help feeling sorry for the Beast as he watched it licking the festering wound and whining in agony. He remembered how Lumi had explained that this creature had led a long-suffering life and that had accounted a great deal for its vicious behavior.

Suddenly the Beast stopped licking the dried blood from his side and stared in Bill's direction intently, as though he could sense his presence there. The black wolf gave a menacing growl, his yellow eyes full of resentment as he drew back his lips and flashed his huge fangs at Bill threateningly.

Bill ducked back behind the tree and began praying frantically that it wouldn't come for him.

He held his breath and shut his eyes tightly as a few heart-stopping seconds went by. Finally Bill heard the Beast give a loud snort followed by the sound of sharp claws digging into the dirt.

Bill exhaled deeply and stood with his back pressed against the tree trunk, not daring to risk a glance back at the creature.

 _Okay, it's digging now. That's good. The plan is beginning to fall into place…_ He told himself reassuringly.

Suddenly a sound like Bill had never heard before (nor would he ever forget!) split the air and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It was the ear-shattering howl of a wolf that morphed into a primal scream of anguish as the Beast uncovered the items Bill had buried.

Bill was shaking uncontrollably, the sound of his own heartbeat so loud that it was echoing in his ears.

In the next instant, a very bright beam of pure white light pierced through the canopy and lit up the whole clearing. That's when Bill heard something that sounded like a lullaby, but it was not in any language he knew. It sounded ancient, kind of like a gentle wind whispering through the trees, a sound of unparalleled beauty that couldn't be put into words. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Bill looked out from behind the tree and was utterly shocked by what he saw!

Instead of a huge black wolf, he saw a very frail-looking old man with scraggly gray hair standing in the spot formally occupied by the Beast. The man had a darkish skin tone like that of a Native American and was clothed in a black robe. As Bill looked on, he caught a brief glimpse of a nasty-looking wound in the old man's chest as the wind gently lifted his robe before hiding the festering sore from view once more.

The old man was staring up at the light with his arms outstretched, as if something that only he could hear was calling out to him. As Bill looked more closely, he saw that the man was clutching the mysterious beads in one hand while tears rolled down his haggard face in a steady stream.

Suddenly the old man gave a heart wrenching sob and screamed at the light, "Why did you have to abandon me?! Just look at what I have become!"

Bill watched the scene as though paralyzed. He still couldn't believe this frail old man was the same Beast that he had seen only minutes ago in the shape of a menacing black wolf! This was the same being that had attacked his daughter and brought so much misery into their lives?!

All of a sudden, Bill was shaken out of his thoughts by a sweet whistling birdsong which he recognized to be the American robin. He heard Lumi's words resonating inside his mind as he began backing away from the scene slowly.

" _When you hear the song of the robin, leave and don't look back!"_

Bill gave one last departing look at the Beast of Muir Woods. The old man had dropped onto his knees and was cradling his head as he sobbed inconsolably, "Why did you leave me mother? Why…?"

Then he saw a little grayish-brown bird with a bright orange breast fly directly over his head and straight into the white light, whistling its sweet song the whole time.

Bill knew this was his cue to leave and he retreated from the scene quietly. Once he felt confident he was out of earshot, he broke into a run and didn't stop until he had safely reached his car.

All throughout the drive back home, Bill couldn't stop thinking about what he had witnessed in those woods and he knew that it had changed his perception about the supernatural forever.

XXX

Back in Headquarters…

Fear and Sadness almost bumped into Disgust as she emerged from the bathroom. The green Emotion was a picture of beauty, just like her former glamorous self! Aside from having less makeup on than usual, the two Emotions found it hard to believe that she had looked like something that had crawled out of a swamp less than two hours ago!

She had changed out of her filthy dress and was now wearing a beautiful sparkly green gown. Her hair had been freshly shampooed and now it was silky soft, the overhead lights making it shine like dewdrops on an early morning lawn.

As Sadness and Fear took a moment to admire her, they couldn't help noticing that Disgust had been very generous when it came to ridding herself of that revolting wild animal stink…

Judging by the overpowering aroma of the floral-scented perfume wafting from her as she walked past them, they were given the impression that she had practically bathed in the stuff!

Disgust flashed a quick smile at her two co-workers before heading into the kitchen to fix herself a late night snack. She had barely eaten anything for over a week and she was feeling understandably ravenous right now!

Despite the elation of seeing her friend back to her old self, Sadness was too out of breath to express her admiration. She stood with her hands on her knees, panting heavily following her and Fear's mad dash to the Memory Dump.

It didn't help that Fear was such a fast runner that he had literally left her in his dust and it was all Sadness could do to try and keep up with him!

Fear himself was looking around the room listlessly, his eyes nearly double their normal size as though he was expecting something to have followed them back to Headquarters after they had thrown the canister and Memory orb into the dark abyss of the Memory Dump.

Finally, the purple Emotion seemed to relax ever so slightly and he gave a huge sigh of relief.

Fear looked down at Sadness, who was still wheezing for air and smiled at her as he enveloped her in a friendly hug. "Oh boy Sadness! That was one of the most terrifying things I've ever done! But we did it!"

Sadness gave a muffled moan as her purple co-worker squeezed her already breathless chest tightly. Before she could say anything, they were interrupted by a loud yawn as Joy made her entrance into the main room.

"Done what? What did I miss?" The yellow Emotion asked with another great yawn.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stopped in front of her two co-workers and regarded them with a curious expression.

Fear let go of Sadness and stared at the floor uncomfortably. Sadness quickly adjusted her glasses, which had been knocked off center by Fear's crushing hug before gazing at Joy with a perpetually exhausted look on her face.

Before either could offer a response, they heard a commotion coming from the direction of the Recall Tube. Moments later Anger's irate cursing filled the room as he tumbled out of the Tube and landed on his butt underneath the transport pipe as it slowly retracted back into the ceiling.

Everyone stared at the red Emotion in surprise as he got up and dusted himself off with a grunt of annoyance.

"Anger! We all thought you were asleep in your room!" Fear exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah…where have you been at this late hour?" Joy asked as she placed her hands on her hips and raised a brow at her red co-worker questioningly.

Anger glared at them moodily before admitting with hesitation, "Well it was such a beautiful night and my indigestion was playing up…"

He looked at the floor with a slightly embarrassed expression and mumbled under his breath, "Must have overeaten again…"

"So I couldn't sleep and I decided to go for a walk." He declared with a casual shrug.

The red Emotion narrowed his eye suspiciously at Sadness and Fear. "Speaking of midnight strolls, I could have sworn I saw you two outside tonight…"

Fear began trembling as he averted his eyes from Anger's accusing stare, his voice sounding small and panicky as he uttered, "Oh boy…"

Sadness gave a miserable sigh. She was exhausted after all the drama that had taken place tonight and she really didn't feel like explaining everything to Joy and Anger right now…

Thankfully, she didn't have to. Anger waved his arm dismissively and muttered, "Bah! Whatever…"

Suddenly his eyes widened in apprehension and he glanced around the room anxiously. His voice had taken on a dead-serious tone as he uttered, "Hey, you'll never believe what happened to me tonight…"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **The Beast's fate has been sealed and finally the curse is banished for good…**

 **I actually felt kind of sad for the Werewolf when I was writing this chapter. Sure, he was responsible for causing a lot of heartache and he unleashed countless evils on many innocent victims throughout his life…but he was such a tortured soul that never experienced happiness or acceptance in his entire life, and in that sense can you really blame him for being so vengeful?**

 **Anyway, as you saw in this latest chapter, his suffering is finally over and now he will never trouble anyone else again.**

 **I'd like to send out a massive thank you to Karebear49, Orangebird124 and Tripledent for your wonderful reviews to the previous chapter :)**

 **We still have two more chapters to go before this story is completed but next I'd like to finish off the final chapter for "Secrets of an Emotional Mind" before concentrating on the remainder of this story and "One Summer of Joy."**

 **Just one more thing I ought to mention before wrapping up this Author's Note: Towards the beginning of this chapter, Disgust made a reference that she thought she smelled like "Hogzilla."**

 **Well in case some of you were reading that line and wondering what I was talking about, "Hogzilla" was a real animal! He was a record-breaking wild pig that was caught in the state of Georgia many years ago and he was supposedly 12 feet long and weighed a whopping 1,000 pounds!**

 **Just thought I'd share that bit of fascinating trivia with you :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	8. The Nightmare Is Over

**Chapter 8 – The Nightmare Is Over.**

Bill arrived home a short time later, since the traffic was still fairly light this early in the morning. He got out of the car and walked up the steps to his front door, his hands trembling as he struggled to process everything that had happened in Muir Woods less than an hour ago.

Bill couldn't get the image of that black wolf, which had miraculously morphed into a haggard old man out of his head. That bloodcurdling scream of anguish still rang in his ears as he thought about the "Beast" gazing into that intense beam of light shining down from the sky.

Even now, Bill couldn't help wondering what had happened to the werewolf after he had left the scene. Was it really gone for good? Whatever the Beast's fate ultimately was, Bill knew that he would be haunted by this experience for a long time to come…

Bill gave a deep sigh and reached out for the door handle. Suddenly the door swung open before he could touch it and he came face-to-face with Lumi and Alina just as they were about to leave. Jill followed closely behind the two women and together they all greeted Bill apprehensively.

"So…I gather everything went as planned Mr. Andersen?" Lumi asked Bill as she searched his face with her soulful brown eyes.

Bill nodded slowly, his voice sounding awestruck as he explained, "I followed your instructions exactly as you said. I just hope everything will return to normal now and that we can finally put this nightmare behind us!"

Alina gave him a small smile of reassurance.

"I'm sure it will…" She replied with a heavy accent.

Jill took hold of both women's hands and broke down in tears as she thanked them graciously. "I don't know how we could ever thank you enough for everything you've done! I mean to help us like this when you didn't even know us?!"

Bill nodded in agreement with his wife. "If there's anything we can do for either of you, just name it!"

Then he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as he added remorsefully, "And I want to apologize for my rudeness towards you earlier. I was feeling so angry and guilty about what happened to Riley that I just couldn't help it! This whole experience was a nightmare and I guess I vented my frustration out on you ladies…"

Bill sighed and looked down regretfully. "I know that wasn't fair and I'm terribly sorry for my obnoxious behavior."

Alina nodded and patted Bill's hand gently in forgiveness.

Lumi smiled at him, her voice full of kindness as she assured him, "Don't worry about it Mr. Andersen. All is well that ends well!"

The young nurse laughed happily as she took her grandmother by the hand. Then she turned to the Andersen's and bade them farewell. "Now go to your daughter! She needs you!"

Riley's parents stood side by side on the porch and waved goodbye to Lumi and Alina, watching them walk down the street until they went around a corner and disappeared from view.

Jill took her husband by the hand and led him inside. She gave him a small kiss on the cheek and whispered softly, "She's still sleeping Honey."

Bill nodded slowly as he gazed in the direction of the lounge room. "Okay then. I'd better go take a shower in the meantime." He replied in a hushed voice.

Just then, they heard Riley's dazed voice calling out to them. "Mom! Dad! Where are you?"

Bill and Jill exchanged worried looks. A feeling of panic came over them both as they ran to the lounge room where Riley had been sleeping.

As soon as they got there, they found Riley sitting up on the sofa with a confused expression on her face. She stared at her parents questioningly and asked in a weary voice, "Where were you guys? What am I doing sleeping on the sofa? Why aren't I in my room?"

Jill went over to her daughter and wrapped her in a massive hug. "Oh Sweetie! You were sick and you fell asleep on the couch. You looked so peaceful here so we decided not to disturb you."

Bill kissed Riley on the cheek and ran his hand through her hair lovingly. Riley was slightly confused by their overbearing show of affection, but she allowed her parents to smother her with hugs and kisses for a few minutes.

Finally they gave her some space and Riley looked up at them curiously. "Yes…I seem to recall feeling pretty sick I guess…" She offered uncertainly.

Then a small smile appeared on Riley's face and she added much more eagerly, "But right now I'm starving! What's for breakfast guys?"

Bill and Jill glanced at each other and a look of understanding passed between them. Riley was finally cured! They were getting their little girl back at long last!

Then Bill swallowed nervously as he studied his daughter carefully and ventured, "Sweetie? Do you remember anything from the past few days?"

Riley's brow furrowed in confusion, a look of deep concentration on her face as she searched her memory for clues as to what had happened to her over the past week…

Finally she gave a deep sigh and shook her head slowly. "Not really…weren't we supposed to be going on a camping trip or something?"

Bill held his breath as he watched Riley trying to remember more. After a few heart-stopping moments, she shrugged apologetically and admitted, "But I guess I became sick somehow and we didn't end up going right?"

Jill let out a long sigh of relief and explained gently, "Yes Sweetheart. You came down with a very bad case of the tummy flu and we decided to stay home. You became very weak because you couldn't keep any food down and you were drifting in and out of consciousness for a few days."

Bill laughed, a massive smile of relief on his own face as he placed a hand on Riley's arm and added jokingly, "Yeah! You were kind of like a zombie! But I have to admit, a very pretty one…"

Bill held his arms out in front of his body stiffy and started doing his best zombie impersonation.

Riley giggled at her father's antics. "Whatever you say dad…"

Then she looked up at her mother eagerly. Her blue eyes were bright and full of life as she announced with playful enthusiasm, "But now I'm fully conscious and I feel much better! Can someone please make me some pancakes?"

Jill smiled and nodded happily. "Of course Sweetie! I'll go start on it right away!"

Bill stifled a yawn and stretched his tired muscles. "I'll go grab a quick shower while you're doing that Jilly. Then I'm ready to have breakfast with my girls!"

While Bill went off to have a shower, Riley hurried upstairs to her room to get changed out of her pajamas. Jill turned on the radio in the kitchen as she started preparing breakfast. She was mixing the pancake batter in a bowl just as the morning news came on. At first, Jill wasn't paying much attention to what the announcer was saying. She was just so overjoyed to have her little girl back to normal that she didn't care about what was happening in the rest of the country!

But then the female newsreader started talking about a breaking news story unfolding in Muir Woods just twelve miles north of San Francisco…

Jill stopped stirring the pancake batter abruptly, her back stiffening with dread and the color draining from her face as she listened to the news reporter's spine-chilling recount of what park officials had discovered in a remote section of the woods less than fifteen minutes ago:

"At around 7 o'clock this morning, park rangers discovered the emaciated body of an elderly man in a densely forested part of the Muir Woods National Monument. They described the man as being in his mid to late eighties with long gray hair and Native American or mixed race in appearance. He was wearing a black robe that appeared to be made of animal furs and rangers found him lying in a fetal position with deep lacerations to his ribcage. The wounds appeared to be badly infected and there were signs of advanced gangrene, suggesting that the man may have died of septicemia."

Jill raised a hand to her mouth in silent shock as she heard the reporter say, "As they were examining the body, park rangers also discovered some colorful beads clutched in the man's left hand, which they suspect may have been of spiritual or tribal significance to the deceased individual. An investigation has been launched into the man's death, but at this stage there appears to be no evidence of foul play and we have heard from statements released earlier by investigators that the man probably died from his injuries or some other natural causes. If anyone has any information concerning this investigation, please contact your local police department…"

Jill gasped and dropped the bowl, sending pancake batter spilling all over the floor with a noisy clatter. She covered her mouth with both hands and stared at the radio in shock, her mind reeling as she struggled to come to grips with everything she had just heard.

Startled by the loud commotion, Bill came running into the kitchen a few seconds later. His face was full of concern as he took in the sight of Jill standing stock-still, her whole body trembling as she sobbed quietly to herself.

"What's wrong Honey?" Bill asked worriedly as he took her in his arms and held her close.

"Oh Bill! It's over!" Jill cried softly.

She hugged him tightly and started sobbing uncontrollably from a combination of shock and relief. "He's dead!"

Bill's face went pale, his eyes widening in amazement as his wife's announcement sank in. "He…he is…?"

He shook his head slowly as if he couldn't believe it was true. "Is it all finally over now?" He uttered in wonder.

Jill wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up, meeting her husband's gaze imploringly. "I hope so! Lumi said that due to the strong connection the Beast had with his mother, he would heed her call when she appeared to him…"

Jill shrugged and shook her head slowly. Her expression became sad as she offered quietly, "I don't know Bill…maybe the desire to be reunited with his dead mother was so strong, that he finally stopped fighting and lost the will to live? Maybe he died of a broken heart…"

Bill kissed his wife on the forehead and replied softly, "I don't know…but whatever the real cause of his death, I believe it's for the best. Not only for us, but for his tortured soul as well…"

Just then, Riley walked into the kitchen. She regarded her parents with curiosity as she saw them standing there with stunned expressions on their faces. She also noticed what appeared to be pancake batter scattered on the floor around their feet and this further increased her confusion.

"I just came to see if my pancakes were ready yet…" She offered hesitantly. Her parents' expressions changed from shock to intense relief as they both smiled at her daughter broadly.

Jill glanced at the mess on the floor and sighed apologetically. "Oh I'm sorry Sweetheart! But I accidentally dropped the bowl and now I'll have to start over."

She got out a dustpan and brush from under the sink and busied herself cleaning up the spilled pancake batter from the floor.

Bill ruffled Riley's hair playfully and told her with mock strictness, "Now young lady, you'd better go help your mother so we can all enjoy those pancakes sooner!"

XXX

Meanwhile in Riley's Headquarters…

All five Emotions were standing in the center of the room, staring at each other in thoughtful silence.

Joy eyed her co-workers curiously as she folded her arms over her chest and ordered, "Can somebody please explain what's been going on around here?"

She glanced at Disgust thoughtfully. The green Emotion had made a mysterious sudden recovery (which Joy was relieved about of course!) But she was confused as to how her green co-worker had gone from gravely ill to her former glamourous self practically overnight!

She noticed that Fear and Sadness were both looking listless as though they knew something about all the weird stuff that's been going on that they weren't sharing and on top of that, Anger had just arrived back in Headquarters looking unusually spooked after admitting that he had gone for a midnight stroll in the Mind World...

Joy narrowed her eye at all of them and demanded calmly, "Actually, I would like to know what's been happening around here for quite some time now!"

Anger grunted and glared at the others suspiciously. "I'd like to know that too! But first, let me tell you what happened to me tonight because you're not gonna believe it…"

The other Emotions stared at their red co-worker apprehensively as he cleared his throat and began sharing his unsettling story with them, his gruff voice taking on a nervous tone as he spoke.

"As I said earlier, I couldn't sleep so I decided to go for a walk. I was wandering around the studios at Dream Productions, minding my own business when all of a sudden, I heard these weird growling noises coming from behind one of the disused sets."

Fear and Sadness glanced at each other anxiously. Anger shuddered as the memory of what he saw flashed through his mind.

Then he took a deep breath and went on uneasily, "So I went around there to check it out and I found three small Mind Workers covered in what looked like thick fur with glowing red eyes! The first thought that went through my mind was that they must be actors from a new dream they were filming..."

Anger snorted in amusement as he suggested, "For a moment, I thought I had ended up on the set of Michael Jackson's _Thriller_ video because those little guys looked kind of like miniature werewolves!"

Suddenly Anger's expression turned serious, his amber eyes wide with panic as he explained, "But the longer I stood there watching them, the more aggressive they appeared to become and all three started coming towards me looking like they wanted to rip me to pieces! That's when I decided that something was definitely not right and I ran from that place as fast as these short legs would carry me!"

Anger shook his head slowly and added with a note of relief, "Lucky for me, their legs were even shorter than mine and I was able to return here before any of them could get to me!"

As the red Emotion finished telling them of his disturbing encounter, a wave of shock spread through the whole group. Fear's teeth were chattering very loudly as he stood shaking uncontrollably. Sadness had taken off her glasses and was nervously wiping them with the bottom of her sweater while Joy looked around the room with an anxious expression.

Disgust stood rigidly still, her face looking almost white from horror as she muttered quietly, "Oh no! That might have been all my fault…"

Anger glanced at the green Emotion questioningly. "What do you mean _it may have been your fault?"_

Disgust swallowed nervously as memories of the nightmare she had endured this past week replayed in her mind vividly.

Without looking at the other Emotions, she began stuttering incomprehensibly, "Well I was a werewolf…but first Riley was a werewolf….I mean she was attacked by a werewolf in the woods and the curse jumped into me through the console…and then I think I may have attacked those Mind Workers…and…and Sadness and Fear…helped me beat the curse…and those two ladies that were here last night helped cure Riley…"

"Whoa! Hold on a minute! Timeout!" Joy interrupted Disgust's frenzied babbling as she stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her traumatized friend's shoulder. Disgust stopped talking, her breathing becoming faster as she fought to control her rising panic.

Joy gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. She spoke in a calming voice, her eyes never leaving Disgust's face as she assured her, "I'll go and make some nice, relaxing tea for all of us. Then you can sit down and tell us what happened slowly Disgust…"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **We are nearing the end of the story dear readers! There will be one shorter chapter to come just to tie everything in together and as always, I will thank every person who has reviewed this story from beginning to end with short individual thank you notes as well as thank all the people who have put this story into their favorites and follows lists :)**

 **But before I get around to writing that final chapter, I have a surprise one-shot that I will be posting sometime in the upcoming days for a wonderful reviewer that has become one of my closest friends on this fandom :)**

 **Then I will return to finish up this story before updating another chapter of "One Summer of Joy". I also have plans to start on some new stories shortly and I hope some of you will choose to check those out and help me support this awesome fandom that has become such a big part of my life :)**

 **I believe, that together we can all help keep the spirit of "Inside Out" going strong into the future!**

 **Svinorita.**


	9. All Is Well That Ends Well!

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **We've reached the end of yet another story and I hope you all enjoyed this Halloween special! Like I mentioned in the author note for the previous chapter, this final installment will be just a short chapter to wrap things up and (hopefully) tie everything in!**

 **Before I get down to writing this final chapter, I'd like to show my appreciation to the following people for writing those wonderful reviews and once again, I will list them in order from oldest to most recent:**

 _ **Karebear49**_ **– Thank you for your encouraging feedback throughout the story my friend! I'm glad you enjoyed this story so much :)**

 _ **Orangebird124**_ **– Thank you for sharing another amazing request with me my friend! You pointed out there weren't that many Halloween stories for "Inside Out" and I hope I was able to do justice with your request! Also thank you for that creative story title, it just works so well with the idea I had for this story :)**

 _ **Tripledent**_ **– Thank you for your inspirational reviews throughout the story my friend! I'm so glad you enjoyed it and I look forward to receiving more reviews from you in my future stories :)**

 _ **HollyAnne1084**_ **– Thank you for that review little fandom sister! I know this story was suspenseful but that's what I was going for and it's good to know that I was able to make it interesting :)**

 _ **Pearl Bramble of Willowbottom**_ **– Thank you for your insightful reviews my friend and I'm glad you liked those little facts and trivia I included in the author's notes on many of the chapters :)**

 **In addition to the reviewers, I'd also like to thank the following people for putting this story in your favorites or story alerts lists:**

 _ **dragonslayerajahn**_

 _ **RosesWilt**_

 _ **Ghest**_

 **The rest were from the reviewers, who I already thanked above :)**

 **And finally thank you to all the silent readers around the world for tuning in and reading this story!**

 **Okay, now let's find out how Riley and the Emotions are dealing with the aftermath of the werewolf incident…**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 – All Is Well That Ends Well!**

After breakfast, Riley and her parents decided to have a quiet, relaxing day as a family. They watched _"The Lion King"_ together and afterwards Bill announced that he wanted to take a mid-afternoon nap. Riley and her mother went for a short walk around the neighborhood in the meantime, Jill relishing every second spent with her daughter as Riley chatted away happily while they walked.

During dinnertime that evening, Riley's parents explained to her that tomorrow they had a little surprise visit for her. There were two special ladies that they wanted their daughter to meet…

Although Riley was unsure of what to make of this announcement at first, a part of her was also excited. Who were these mysterious people her parents seemed so eager to introduce her to? And why did she get the distinct feeling that she remembered hearing their names somewhere even though she was sure she had never met them before…?

XXX

While Riley was spending the day with her parents, her Emotions were also trying to come to terms with everything that had transpired over the past week. Once Joy had made some tea for everyone like she'd promised, they all gathered around the console and listened to Disgust tell them of her harrowing ordeal of contracting the werewolf's curse.

Despite everything that had happened to her, Disgust appeared to have calmed down quite a lot after hearing the news that the Beast was dead. She felt immensely reassured that the awful curse had died along with the werewolf. That meant both she and Riley were finally cured for good and nobody else would ever have to go through the same torment they experienced!

The other Emotions listened in rapt silence as she recounted her story to them in as much detail as possible (at least the parts she could remember anyway) and how Sadness and Fear had helped her get rid of the curse while Lumi and Alina had done the same for Riley.

Sadness explained how she and Fear had taken the curse which Disgust had thrown up into a metal tea canister into the Memory Dump along with Riley's memory of encountering the werewolf in Muir Woods. Fear shuddered compulsively as he listened to his blue co-worker recounting all the terrifying events that had taken place last night, but he also felt a glimmer of pride in his heart knowing that he had helped her accomplish that task.

 _I guess you could say that I faced my own "fear" last night…_ Fear thought to himself with a sheepish grin.

Anger sat on the sofa, simultaneously listening to Disgust tell her story and flicking through his daily edition of the _Mind Reader._ He still found all this talk of werewolves hard to believe but at the same time, he couldn't deny what he had witnessed last night…

Suddenly, his eyes widened in surprise as he came across a small article in his paper without a headline which discreetly stated that security found three Mind Workers that appeared to be suffering from a mysterious affliction wandering around the back of Dream Productions last night. The subjects in question were reported to exhibit strange rabid-type behavior and they appeared to be extremely aggressive when approached. The guards managed to successfully subdue the three oddballs without much incident (thanks to the use of some high-powered Tasers) and they have been detained in the Subconscious until further assessment of their condition can be carried out…

Anger shook his head in wonder as he put the paper aside. He decided to pay close attention to the rest of Disgust's story, convinced now that sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction…

As Disgust was wrapping up her recount, Fear and Sadness exchanged a quick look and in that moment a silent understanding seemed to pass between them. They were both hoping that everything would be back to normal in Headquarters from now on!

XXX

The next morning, Riley was feeling super excited. Today she was going to visit those mysterious people her parents had told her about and she was very eager to find out who they were!

After breakfast she and her parents piled into the car and drove into a part of town Riley had never seen before. The houses here were quite lavish with beautiful gardens out the front, which made her feel a little nostalgic about her old house back in Minnesota with its spacious yard and trees.

Along the way, they made several quick stops to pick up some gifts for their visitors. They ended up buying a box of chocolates and a gorgeous silk scarf with images of red flowers and robin birds on it before stopping at a florist's to get a big bouquet of roses.

Finally they pulled up outside a big house with a picket fence encircling the front yard. As they got out of the car and started walking along the narrow path to the porch, Riley noticed that whoever lived here had a passion for gardening! The yard was bursting with brightly colored flowers of all kinds that filled the air with their sweet and invigorating scent, making Riley yearn even more for her backyard back in Minnesota.

Bill knocked on the door and moment's later, they were greeted by a young woman that looked to be in her late-twenties. As Riley watched her, the woman gave her a huge friendly smile and invited them in enthusiastically.

Riley and her parents followed their host into the lounge room where they saw a very old lady sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee. The old lady looked up at her guests and smiled warmly, her ancient eyes focusing on Riley as she put her coffee mug down and tapped the seat beside her, indicating that she wanted Riley to sit next to her.

Riley was feeling confused. She did not know who these ladies were, but for some reason they both seemed so familiar…

As Riley and her parents took their seats, the younger woman that had invited them in went over to Riley and began speaking in a soothing voice, "Let me take a look at you Honey! How are you feeling today?"

Riley shrugged and replied hesitantly, "I'm feeling okay."

She furrowed her brow in concentration as she regarded the friendly young woman thoughtfully. "Hey…I think I remember seeing you before…"

The woman smiled back at her kindly. Slowly, a look of recognition dawned on Riley's face and she exclaimed excitedly, "You're that nurse from the hospital that was looking after me!"

Lumi nodded and her smile grew even broader. "Yes I am Sweetie. My name is Luminita, but you can call me Lumi for short."

"I knew I saw your face before somewhere! I remember you and this good-looking young doctor with a funny accent from the hospital…" Riley trailed off and went red in the face as she looked down bashfully.

Lumi laughed. "It's okay Sweetie! Most girls can't help getting a crush on Dr. Mikkelsen!" She assured her happily.

She glanced at the old woman sitting beside Riley and added jokingly, "Even me and my grandmother aren't immune to his Norwegian good-looks and charm!"

Alina giggled in agreement.

Riley glanced over at her and ventured, "I think I know you from somewhere as well…you have very kind eyes…"

Riley studied Alina's wise old face closely and insisted, "I definitely know those eyes, but I'm not sure where I saw you before…

Before she could finish her thought, Lumi interrupted her by saying, "Let's not worry about that right now. Allow me to offer you some of my homemade honey cakes!"

"What are those?" Riley asked curiously.

Lumi smiled at her warmly and explained, "They are very popular back in my homeland; Romania, and they're very tasty! I'll go get some for you now!"

With that, Lumi went into the kitchen and returned a short time later carrying a tray filled with delicious looking slices of cake made with layers of cream and what appeared to be honey and jam in between the cake sponge.

Riley and her parents helped themselves to the treats and agreed that it did indeed taste as good as it looked!

While Riley was enjoying her slice of cake, a silent understanding seemed to pass between all four adults in the room.

Lumi smiled proudly and whispered, "All is well that ends well!"

 **The End.**


End file.
